Water. The preserver of life. The blood of nature. The liquid of life. Dripping and Puddling, Cascading and falling. Roaring and Singing.
This week we had the wonderful opportunity to go to the Villa d’Este to see the water gardens that are there. The villa is located in the town of Tivoli near Rome. It is a UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) world heritage site because of the well-preserved Renaissance architecture and the garden. While the villa contains numerous Renaissance murals, it is famous for the water gardens which were imitated by dozens of others from Poland to Portugal. Pirro Ligorio was commissioned to lay out the gardens of the villa. An Italian garden is characterized by a constrained geometric layout.
The garden was completed in the 17th century and looks not a single year older. The preservation of the gardens is astounding. It consists of over five hundred! jets and fountains all still based on and using the Renaissance time hydro-engineering knowledge. One of the more popular fountains is the Hundred Fountains which is a three tier wall covered in vines of multiple animal heads spouting water from their mouths. This wall creates a musical walk down into the rest of the gardens. The most picturesque and grand of the fountains is the Fontana di Nettuno (featured picture).
The gardens created absolutely beautiful backdrops to the many, many pictures we took as a group as we marveled at the beauty and tranquility of Villa d’Este. Perhaps this same water will still be flowing through these fountains decades into the future. Only time will be able to tell.
Bethany King
Standing in front of the Fontana di Nettuno