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The history of the Villa d’Este, masterpiece of the Italian Garden, is included in the world heritage list of Unesco. With its impressive concentration for water fountains, nymphs, grottoes, plays of water, and music entertainment, it constitutes a much replicated model in the mannerist, and baroque styles for European gardens.
The garden is considered within the larger and altogether extraordinary context of Tivoli with its landscape, art and history which includes the ruins of the ancient villas such as Villa Adriana, as well as an area rich in caves and waterfalls feathering the battle between running water and solid stone. The imposing designs and the series of terraces above one another brings to mind the hanging gardens of Babylon, one of the wonders of the ancient world and culture. The addition of the water aqueduct tunneling beneath the city reveals the engineering skills of the Romans.
After the disappointment of a failed bid for the papacy Cardinal Ippolito II d’Este,, brought back to life the courts of Ferrara, Rome and Fontainebleau, and revived the magnificence of Villa Adriana. In 1550 the Governor of Tivoli immediately realizing the idea of the garden in the hanging cliffs of the “Valle gaudente”, but after 1560 his architectural and iconographic program became clear the brainchild of painter architect archaeologist Pirro Ligorio, and realized by court architect Alberto Galvani.
The Palace rooms were decorated under the tutelage of the stars of the late Roman Mannerism, such as Livio Agresti, Federico Zuccari, Durante Alberti, Girolamo Muziano, Cesare Nebbia and Antonio Tempesta. By the time of the Cardinal’s death in 1572 the work was almost complete.
About 1605 Cardinal Alessandro d’Este approved a new progam of interventions to restore and repair the vegetation and the waterworks, but also to create a new series of innovations to the historic layout of the garden, and the decorations of the water fountains. Other works were carried out from 1660 to 1670, these involved a figure of Gianlorenzo Bernini.
In about XVIIIth century the lack of intrest led to the decay of the arciture, and gardens which was aggravated by the property’s passage to the House of Hapsburg. The water works no longer used fell into ruin, and the garden was slowly abandoned over time, and the collection of ancient statues enlarged under Cardinal Ippolito, was disassembled and scattered about.
The decay continued without interruption until about the middle of the XIXth century, untill 1851 when Gustav von Hohelohe, obtained in enfiteusi the villa from the Dukes of Modena. He then launched a series of works to pull the complex back from its state of ruin. The Villa once again became a cultural point of reference, between 1867 and 1882 with the Cardinal frequently hosting the musician Franz Liszt who lived from 1811 to 1886, composed Giochi d’acqua a Villa d’Este for piano while being a guest here, and gave one of his final concerts in 1879 .
At the outbreak of World War I, the villa became a property of the Italian State. In the 1920s it was restored and reopened to the public. After World War II another, restoration was carried out immediately, to repair the damage caused by the bombing of 1944. Due to particularly unfavorable environmental conditions, the restorations have continued practically without interruption during the past two decades ,and the recent cleaning of the Organ Fountain, and also the birdsong.
