Hadrian Villa and the sanctuary of Hercules Victor at Tivoli

Hadrian villa was the splendid villa built by the emperor Harian at the foot of the hills of Tivoli in 117 b. C.  Actually the name villa is not completely right since this was a proper city extended in a green area of about 300 hectares . The emperor Hadrian was a personality of great intellect, a philosopher , architect and poet,  but what he most loved was travelling to Athens and the oriental cities of the vast empire. Consequently he built the architectonic complexes of the villa on the model of the buildings that had struck him most: the Lyceum, the Academy, the Stoà Poekile , the Pritaneus  the Canopus on the Nile delta and the Temple Valley in Thessaly. Through a walking tour along the architectonic complexes of Hadrian Villa and on the “false line” of Hadrian biography we will lead you to explore the fascinating places of the romantic an adventurous life of one of the most modern men of antiquity.  We will then visit the sanctuary of Hercules Victor on the acropolis of Tivoli. For its architectonic grandiosity and scenic setting, on several terraces sloping down the Tiber valley, this was one of the most important sanctuaries of ancient Italy.