Blogs from Tivoli, Lazio, Italy, Europe

Another day has come and gone. Today, a group of us went to Tivoli, Italy for a day trip. We were able to sleep in for a little bit, but we boarded a train for an hour, then we arrived in Tivoli. On the train, we met another American from Michigan, who was traveling alone, so we told her to tag along with us for the day! First, we went to Villa Gregoriana. There was a hike around the property, and we saw some beautiful waterfalls, caves, and a temple. The hike took probably an 1 1/2 hours and there were many, many stairs! i chose the wrong day to wear a dress and converse. Then, we got lunch at Reginella. On the way through the city, there was a market and a wedding. I got ... read more

Geo: 41.9636, 12.7983Today's adventure occurred in Tivoli. We hopped in the car, taking our lives in our hands with Rome's drivers, and went to see Hadrian's Villa. As we expected, this has been the worse for wear after 2,000 years, but the immense size remains. This is not one villa, but has multiple baths (the Romans sure loved them), banquet and reception areas, even two libraries, a hospital, among many other things. The amount of building at least equals Diocletian's retirement home in Split.This is mostly ruins, sort of like what would happen to our buildings without maintenance for a couple of thousand years. Actually, ours would look far worse.Okay, this is our last day in Rome. We leave tomorrow for a brief stop in Naples before landing on the Amalfi Coast for four days. Actually ... read more

Woke up to yet another lovely day – the sun shining and the temperature up in the 80’s. We didn’t expect this sort of lovely sunny weather in September. We stopped for petrol on the motorway and in usual fashion the attendant was giving me the once over whilst serving the fuel. He must have been pretty hard up ogling a pensioner. We had an interesting experience further on along the road when we reached a part where three lanes went down to two and the traffic was funnelled into the narrowing road. On one side a rather impatient German tried to muscle his way in and force us over. Being British with the steering wheel on the wrong side of the cab it was impossible for the driver to see him so we ignored him ... read more

Day 36 Tivoli We took a metro/bus combo out to Tivoli today, to visit the Villa D'Este. It was the playground of a Cardinal in the 1500s....he loved the arts and fountains...and diverted a river to run his hundreds of water features! The state has renovated many of the fountains and has them running again...most are working with just the original water pressure! It was such a calm, beautiful spot...and the weather cooperated one last time for us...sunny and warm all day. You could see nearly to Rome (about 20 kilometers), or you could if the air was clean.... We would really recommend both a trip to Ostia Atica and to Tivoli if you come to Rome. They are so easy to get to without a car, and provide a nice break from the intensity of ... read more

IES offered a sponsored Field Trip on Saturday to Tivoli. So around twenty people from IES met at the bus station early in the morning to depart to Tivoli, a town outside of Rome that contains the Villa Adriana. The villa was built by the Emperor Hadrian and is an elegant park that is over three miles big. The trip was alot of fun since we were with a big group. There was some confusion in the beginning because we had two Italian students guiding us, and the road was closed that usually leads to Tivoli, so we did some bus hopping. The villa was beautiful and had huge baths, a theater, a courtyard among other things. In between the trip to the two villas, we had a break for lunch. Alfred noticed that there was ... read more