Tivoli!

 Hello from Denver! (We're back now and I'm a little behind, but wanted to document the last couple days!)

We felt like we had an extra day in Rome than we needed, so we decided to take a day trip to Tivoli, a small town about an hour away via train. We booked our train tickets the day before through TrenItalia and did a little research to decide on a plan for the day. Tivoli has three UNESCO World Heritage sites - the Villa d'Este, the Villa Adriana, and the Villa Gregoriana. We bought tickets for the Villa d'Este which was the closest to the train station and easiest walk of the three. On the morning of, we grabbed breakfast at the hotel, took the bus to Roma Termini, and caught the train a little after 9 AM. We arrived in Tivoli at about 10 and walked over to the Villa d'Este. 

The gardens for the Villa d'Este were laid out between 1500-1583 by Pirro Ligorno on behalf of Cardinal Ippolito d'Este of Ferrara. D'Este was named Governor of Tivoli in 1550. The Villa d'Este is known for its water gardens and represents an example of Italian 16th Century Water Gardens. The gardens were designed such that water was supplied naturally based on the levels of the garden. A fun fact we learned on our visit was that they used to use the water and the fountains to scare unsuspecting visitors. The focal fountain was updated later (1660/1661) based on a design by Bernini. Though the villa has been the property of the Italian government since 1920, at one point it was leased by the Hapsburgs. A bit before the Hapsburg occupancy (and even more so during), the property was in a period of decline. Thankfully, restoration efforts have made the villa quite spectacular. The property was damaged by bombs during World War Two and was inspired by the Villa Adriana. Franz Liszt, a Hungarian composer, lived there for 20 years and composed a piece based on the fountains!

We liked the Fountain of Neptune and the big fish pond. I also liked the owl fountain, and Ray liked the first fountain we saw. It was also about 10 degrees cooler next to the fountains, so we spent a lot of time hanging out close to them - but we also left with a few bug bites!

Villa:

Gardens:

We were hungry, so we went to lunch at Alice Pizza, an Italian chain. It was pretty good! I got a Zucchini Florets pizza and Ray got a Bacon & Potato one. Then we went to a café (Café Del Trevi) to pass the afternoon. We were planning to spend a little longer there but the barista (owner) shut down in a hurry around 2:15 PM. A quick google search revealed that there was a funeral occurring that day, likely a pretty important one, at 2:30 - the whole town shut down for the funeral and it was super quiet as we walked around. The view was pretty as we walked back to the train station to catch the next direct train to Rome. 

We got back to Rome around 4 and headed back to the hotel for a brief rest. Then, around 6, we headed to La bottega del caffè to join in the Italian Spritz tradition! We loved the little snacks that came with the spritzes for no additional cost. 

We got dinner at Al 42 close by. We arrived right when they opened (7 PM) and there was already a long line outside the restaurant. We waited for 30 minutes or so before getting our chance to eat. I tried the "Thursday Gnocchi" with black truffle and Ray had the raviolis. We were super full after our two meals! There were two Americans sitting next to us at dinner that had ordered four dishes (!) and, when the host warned them that it might be too much food, they went with it anyway and ended up eating it all out of spite (and because it was tasty). They made it a point to bring up their clean plates to the host after!

Then, we called it a night to start the packing process. It was a really fun day and a nice break from the hustle and bustle of Rome!

Amy