Villa d'Este and more climbing around!

Just realized that we forgot to put these photos in yesterday.......this is such a cool sculpture!  It is an early baroque fountain called Fontana della Barcaccia, or “Fountain of the Old Boat”. It is credited Pietro Bernini; a member of the renowned artist family Bernini and father of famous Baroque artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini. The fountain has the form of a sinking ship and it is said to be based upon a folk legend. The legend tells that a fishing boat was carried all the way to this exact spot during a massive flood of the Tiber River in the 16th century.

We woke to another beautiful sunny day.  After a bit of yoga to attempt to alleviate the variety of stiff joints we have in our legs, we had breakfast in the apartment.  It worked out great with eggs, toast, cheese, fruit.....and coffee!

morning view up Via Angelo Masina

view from our balcony across the street to the Director's house

cannot stop photographing wysteria!

Anyway, onward we go.......not short on ambition (maybe getting short on energy!) we decided that since the weather forecast was for a gorgeous day that we would head out to Tivoli to visit Villa d'Este and its famous gardens. Villa d’Este is included in the UNESCO world heritage sites. With its impressive concentration of fountains, nymphs, grottoes, plays of water, and music, it constitutes a much-copied model for later European gardens in the mannerist and baroque styles.

We have been here several times over the years (3 or 4.....we can't remember) and find it is always worth a return trip.  The process of getting there, however, is not insignificant.  We are working pretty well as a team in these adventures.  I am driving the stick shift and trying to avoid collisions while Andrea is playing chief navigator with her phone.  It is a two person effort!  We made it out there in a little over an hour.

Our travel was somewhat complicated by goofing up things at one of the toll booths.  Somehow we (I) managed to get a ticket jambed in a machine.....but still managed to get the gate to go up.  When we got to the next toll we found out we should never have left the first toll booth without the ticket.  After 10 minutes of trying to talk through a horrible speaker connection (in Italian).......the machine spit out a 10" length of paper.  Then the gate opened.  We have generally figured out that we now have a bill for about $70, as if we had travelled the entire length of the autostrada.  Oh well, live and learn!

Back to the fun stuff. The garden is generally considered within the larger –and altogether extraordinary-- context of Tivoli itself: its landscape, art and history which includes the important ruins of ancient villas such as the Villa Adriana, as well as a zone rich in caves and waterfalls displaying the unending battle between water and stone.......which is a theme we are fascinated with!

The imposing construction and the series of terraces above terraces has at its roots the idea of the hanging gardens of Babylon, one of the wonders of the ancient world. The addition of water-- including an aqueduct tunneling beneath the city -- evokes the engineering skill of the Romans themselves.  The project was started in the mid-1500's and went through many stages of construction, abandon and renovation.

There is a special "water organ" here that is played 2 or 3 times a day.  We arrived with a large school group.

This photo is for Addie and Grady to get a better sense of what the "cool" backpacks are over here.  Good to know Anna and Elsa are poplular here as well!

After the rather demanding climbing around the gardens, we grabbed lunch at a very nice place close to the Villa.  It was great to sit down and give the legs a break!.....and the food was great!

Maybe we are getting more used to the crazy traffic.......but the drive back to Rome was a bit easier than we expected.  It was still totally crazy with the confluence of cars, buses and motorbikes.  You feel like you are in a demolition derby.  Maybe we are just getting the feel of it!

Dinner was a simple repeat........back to the Carpe Diem.  Tonight we opted for Insalata Caprese and a pizza with tomatoes, cheese and sausage.  It was incredibly good.  We had the same waiter as last night and he offered the same complimentary limoncello again......I guess they know what helps bring people back!  Very nice evening.

Beautiful trees across the street as the sun sets

Limoncello........nice ending to the day!