The
next morning I walked to the Villa d'Este in this neighbourhood, which is
a vast edifice with extensive grounds.
Here on a terrace in front of the
villa are models in marble of all the principal edifices and monuments,
ancient and modern, of Rome, very ingeniously executed. From the Villa
d'Este is a noble view of the whole plain of Latium and of the "Eternal
City."
From hence I walked about two miles further to visit the greatest antiquity
and curiosity of the place, which is the Villa or rather the ruins of the
celebrated Villa built by Adrian, which must have been of immense size from
the vast space of ground it occupies. It was intended to unite everything
that the magnificent ideas of a Prince could devise who wished to combine
every sort of recreation, sensual as well as intellectual, within the
precincts of his Palace; columns, friezes, capitals, entablatures and
various other spoils of rich architecture cover the ground in profusion:
many of the walls and archways are entire and almost an entire cupola
remains standing. Besides the buildings above ground, here are cellars
under ground intended as quarters for the guards and capable of holding
three thousand men, as well as stabling for horses. In the inclosure of and
forming part of this Villa, which covers a circumference of seven miles,
were a gymnasium, baths, temples, a school of philosophers, tanks, a
theatre, &c. The greatest part of these buildings are choaked up and
covered with earth, since it is by excavation alone that what does appear
was brought to light.
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