Garden Tour III - Tivoli Gardens

It's snowing. Many dear friends use this kind of weather as inspiration for browsing seed catalogues, making lists, drawing garden plans. I study historic gardens - and this year I'm fortunate to have some of my own photos to peruse. Last fall I got myself to Tivoli Gardens outside of Rome. For years amore mio and I visited this place and other wonderful gardens of the world thanks to Monty Don's garden series. He's a charming English garden expert who visits world-famous green places, con brio. He visited this little oasis in busy Venice. 

In the words of the UNESCO declaration, Tivoli gardens represent "the flowering of Renaissance culture." Did anyone intend that pun? But I would hasten to agree. The statement declares the Tivoli gardens "one of the earliest and finest of the 'giardini della meraviglie'" and I would concur. Here is me being overwhelmed by the 100 fountains. Here's the rest of the UNESCO statement. 

Oval Fountain

I have come upon the name d'Este often in my Italian history browsing. This Wikipedia article, although apologizing for its brevity, covers the bases. (Yes I donate, do you?) 

The Fish Ponds

The beyond sumptuous villa and estate were built by Cardinal Ippolito II d'Este, son of the Duke of Ferrara, archbishop of Milan at aged ten, and grandson of Pope Alexander VI. Ippolito's own designs on the papacy were cut short by the Reformation. Mixed feelings here - Ippoito was a massive patron of the arts, and creator of beauty (for himself and his peeps.)  His wealth and entitlement enrages me.

Fountain of the Big Glass

     Maybe I should just relax and look at the photos,         relive the day.

Fountain of Neptune

I thought I might drop this bit of video here; it's the Fountain of Neptune, well, fountaining.

Fountain of the Owl

Fountain of Persephone

Villa d'Este's Tivoli Gardens are famous for fountains. There are "51 fountains and nymphaeums, 398 spouts, 364 water jets, 64 waterfalls and 220 basins fed by 875 metres of canals, channels and cascades all working entirely by the force of gravity, without pumps." (Wikipedia counted)

The crowds gathered around this rather OTT creation had one thing in mind. Hope? Scepticism?

Here's a patient tourist trying to capture a moment.  This overdecorated pile is the Fontana dell'Organo, the Organ Fountain, begun 1566. It's a marvellous piece of Renaissance artistry and engineering. 

Somewhat on schedule, twice a day, this astonishing fountain produces some not bad late Renaissance music -all by air and water power, remember?  

I'm saving this  video visit posted to YouTube by Walkin' Around, to whom I subscribe. They show some of the villa interior, through which we passed on our guided rush to the gardens. 

Of course, I wanted equal time in the villa, but we were on our way back to Rome. (Who's to complain, really?)  I grabbed a few photos of painted ceilings and some intriguing Roman mosaics but will content myself with this photo of the Vialone, the long terrace between the villa and the gardens. Perhaps you detect a note of wistfulness?

And if I've left you wanting to learn more, here's a detailed Wikipedia entry. 

An Arch Look

These three triumphal arches in the Roman Forum have been on the course syllabus whenever I've taken an art history course. And I must admit that I've always had trouble remembering which was which. Now that I have been in their presence - cannot say I've walked under each, nor did I stay long enough to devote adequate time to all the relief carvings - I have a deeper appreciation, and that pesky urge to learn more.

I'm recording some interesting things I learned for my reference/ amusement. Here's an outstanding interactive map if you'd like to walk along. Try not to dawdle. Keep your eyes on the flag.

At the top is the Arch of Titus, built by Emperor Domitian in 82AD to commemorate the victories of his brother Titus, including the conquest of Jerusalem. Relief carvings on the interior show soldiers carrying off the treasures of the Jerusalem temple. History written by the victors.

I read that the Arch of Titus was the model for the Arc de Triomphe in Paris - a note for my Paris-travelling family.

As usual, a link to my favourite art history site, Smart History - arch of Titus, tells the story better than I ever could.

My middle 3 photos show the Arch of Septimus Severus. Unlike the single arch of Titus, this one has three bays. It was built in 203AD to commemorate the emperor's and his sons' victory over the Parthians (ancient Iran and Iraq) - how far the Roman Empire pushed its way!

Here's Dr. Beth Harris with Dr. Darius Arya in one of the informative chats on Smart History. I viewed the arch from several vantage points, but didn't get to stand under those coffered barrel vaults or get close to those massive columns. The many figurative sculptures and the inscriptions of the attic story inspire awe even now 2000 years later. Imagine the spectacle as these emperors  would process through the arches with the spoils of their conquest - human and material - trailing behind.  (I read that Septimus Servus declined the big victory parade due to arthritis pain. Such a human ailment for an emperor!) 

The bottom two photos show the arch of Constantine, the largest of the triumphal arches in the Roman Forum, erected by the Senate in 312AD to commemorate Constantine's victory at Milvian Bridge in northern Rome over Maxentius, a fellow emperor in a complicated government called the Tetrarchy, of which I know little.

Once again, Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker are my go-to site, here. 

I like this photo, taken from the piazza outside the Colosseum. Look at the ants milling about. The glory of the once-great Empire still humbles us.

I was surprised to learn that there were five triumphal arches in the Roman forum - archeologists and historians have discovered the crumbs of the Arch of Tiberius (16AD)  and the Arch of Augustus (possibly 29BC.) Their images appeared on coins or carvings on other arches. There is an evocative photo on this site. I would have stood there in October without realizing the past glories celebrated on that spot. The more I think about Rome, the more attuned I become to the inexorable nature of change. These arches glorified larger than life emperors and their victories, in an Empire that ruled the world for a thousand years, then disappeared. We may be entering a new era of triumphal arches, who knows?

Pondering what was.

 

I'm saving this link to the Madain Project, with its exhaustive list of Monuments in the forum, using it as I work my way through my photos, seeing how many I can put names to. Why? Curiosity? Planning for a more informed visit next time?

And here's the link to  travel consultant Susan, who has informed my journey this time.

Garden Tour II - Borghese Gardens

 On yet another frigid January day, I am loving looking back at my visit to Rome's Borghese Gardens. The temperature in Rome was in the high 20's, and I was wilting from the walk from my stay down Via Corso to Piazza del Popolo. I  have fond memories of discovering this spot with travel companions Mary and Sandra, new friends I met on our 2023 hill towns group tour. Making good friends certainly put paid to my notion that I might feel left out as a solo traveller.

But back to October 2024. The lovely host at my little inn had insisted I get to the Pincio lookout. I love a high vantage point over a city. And the promise of an historic garden atop the lookout. Garden visits have always been a priority in a large city, a much-needed antidote for too much ... muchness.

So, several water fountain stops later, I made it to the piazza, and found the long hot stairs to the oasis of green at the top of the Pincian hill. My destination: the upper terrace in the photo below, with the little tourist heads poking up above the balustrade.

But before we leave this spot, I want to record something I just learned - the obelisk, one of the 13 in Rome, is Egyptian. It was erected by Emperor Hadrian as part of a memorial to his beloved Antonius. There's a story I learned at Hadrian's Villa - another post for another day. What an astonishing little piece of history - and 1st century BC logistics - this moving of obelisks.

And maybe a note about the Fountain of Dea Roma, the kind of  grouping that leaves me cold. The goddess Roma, allegorical Tiber and Aniene rivers, the she-wolf with Romulus and Remus were created in 1823. I looked that up, just for you.

But the gardens. All 80 hectares; that's 197 acres, twice the size of two North Marysburgh farms. This 'green lung' of Rome was created in 1606 as the pleasure gardens of  the owner, Cardinal Scipione Borghese, nephew of Pope Paul V. I admit to a certain impatience at these historic princes of the church, usually members of the family of the current pope, amassing wealth, taking power for granted, wanting more of each. 

The Cardinal's humble dwelling, the Borghese Palace, now houses the fabulous Borghese gallery. Scipione was an ambitious collector and patron of Bernini and Caravaggio so you can imagine the treasure trove within. Not only was I 'galleried out' at that point, but also I needed green time, so I kept that visit for another list. Here's a walking tour which I will enjoy virtually until then.

So, once I made it up the Porta Pincio stairs (the Spanish Steps being the alternative) I was in my happy place. Incidentally, Mary, Sandra and I made it to the top of the Spanish Steps,but we didn't venture further. Next time.

I am still putting together my mental map of central Rome, and am regularly surprised at how close favourite destinations are. Maps help, but navigation is challenging; the network of via, corso, largo, calle and stairs- and those inviting unnamed passages - is mind-boggling.

I don't think I would have liked the original formal gardens as much as I love the naturalistic English garden style to which they were converted in the nineteenth century.  The estate was purchased by the state and opened as a public park in 1903, after some turns of fortune over the centuries, outlined here. As an example: areas of the original formal gardens were reduced to growing potatoes and cabbages for the poor during WWII.

But back to my walk. Here is the Piazza del Populo viewed from the Terrazza del Pincio, where I became one of the little heads poking over the balustrade. 

My goal was to find less domesticated places - no statues and fountains. The list of trees in this urban 'wilderness' is astonishing. Among my favourites, more Italian to me than even the iconic Tuscan cypresses, are the umbrella pines of Rome (cue Respighi). Cedars, oaks of various kinds  and plane trees....some wonderful ancient specimens here.

I'm just going to enjoy my photos and my memories of this hot afternoon in Rome. There were avenues of trees lined with quiet benches, and places where I could be completely alone. 

There were also the distractions of rental segways and tandem bicyles with the attendant screaming, taxis and golfcarts, huge gelato stand lineups. It's a busy park. The list: 2 major museums, 14 buildings, 20 monuments, 35 fountains and over a thousand pieces of sculpture, many ancient. No I didn't count, this inventory is thanks to this digital archive.

This water clock, a hydrochronometer, was set up here in its fairy-tale setting, after its success at the Paris Universal Exhibition in 1867. Its inventor was the Dominican mechanical engineer friar Giovanni Battista Embriaco.  Lots more here, a really lovely read. His day job was as spiritual director of the Dominican convent next door to Sopra Minerva, which is where we came in, with post number two on this blog.

There were novelties which I didn't seek out,  the replica of Shakespears's Globe theatre being one. 

I did have a delightul peaceful al fresco lunch and beverage at Casina del Lago. Can't find the original purpose of the structure. 

Didn't get to call these two by name.

Nor did I rent a rowboat and paddle past the 1780/90 Temple of Aesculapius. I kept company with a  lovely white heron (egret?) immune, like me, to the flirting and giggling going on around us, reflected in the little lake.

In the distance, the Temple of Diana 1789. And a pedicab.2024.

And the trees, the reason I walked all this way. And I can't wait to do it again.

I Gatti di Roma

 

I came upon Largo di Torre Argentina as I was finding my way home along Corso Vittorio Emanuel II after dark, from a late appointment at the Vatican. Despite my hurry-home nerves (landmarks don't look the same at night) the dramatically lit ruins stopped me in my tired tracks. 

Largo is a "sacred area" archeological site opened only in 2023. Turns out the ruins were not far from my room next to Piazza della Rotunda. Nevertheless, it took some doing to find them again the next day! 

Time didn't permit a visit, but I spent a long time on the piazza above, with its marvellous interpretive panels. This site protects and explains an astonishing complex of four ruined temples from the Republican era, and the Theatre and Curia of Pompey, where Julius Caesar was assassinated! Here's a fabulous site about the site.

And here I met - at a distance, which is the way they like it - the feral cats of Largo di Torre Argentina.

If you play 'Where's Waldo' you can see the occasional cat in these photos. They are part of the 150 or so in residence at any one time. 

The Torre Argentina Cat Sanctuary gained momentum during the 1950s when cat-loving theatre types began feeding the felines. Their goal is to spay and neuter but also to feed, provide medical services and arrange adoptions. 

Here is a link to theirwebsite which contains cat stories, adoption opportunities and media coverage. From here you can make donations or arrange a virtual adoption.  I have developed a soft spot for goofy Bossanova.