Day Trip to Tivoli: Hadrian's Villa & Villa d'Este, Rome

Your day begins in Rome, where you'll meet your expert guide and settle into a comfortable vehicle for the scenic drive east toward Tivoli. As the city fades into rolling countryside, your guide introduces the region's history and the powerful figures who once chose Tivoli as their escape from Rome's summer heat.

The first stop is Hadrian's Villa (or Villa Adriana), an immense archaeological site built in the second century as Emperor Hadrian's personal retreat. More than a palace, the complex functioned as a self-contained city, complete with baths, libraries, gardens, temples, and underground service tunnels designed to keep daily operations hidden from view.

Walking through the ruins with your guide brings the scale and ambition of the empire into focus, revealing how innovation and luxury shaped imperial life. You'll check out well-preserved structures like the Hospitalia (guesthouse), with its black-and-white mosaic floors, and amble along the Canopus, a grand canal-like pool area that pays tribute to Egypt and the Nile River, among many others. After exploring the villa, you'll pause in the town of Tivoli for free time to enjoy lunch at a local restaurant, with recommendations tailored to your tastes. Stroll the streets, relax over a leisurely meal, and soak up the slower pace of this historic hill town.

Following lunch, continue to Villa d'Este, a masterpiece of Renaissance design (and former home to a 16th-century Catholic cardinal) created to impress. Inside, richly decorated rooms showcase colorful frescoes and grand staircases, while outside, the gardens unfold into a spectacular display of water engineering. Fed entirely by gravity, the fountains—among them the Hundred Fountains, the Fountain of the Dragons, and the now-restored Fountain of the Organ—cascade, trickle, and jet in choreographed harmony. As you wander the terraces and pathways, your guide explains how ambition, artistry, and ingenuity came together to create such an impressive feat.

The day ends with a return journey to Rome, leaving you with a deeper appreciation for the vision, power, and creativity that defined both Ancient Rome and the Renaissance.