Tour Description:

The visit will consist of a three-hour tour of Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli. A UNESCO World Heritage site, this villa was built by Emperor Hadrian (117-138 CE) and is one of the most important archaeological locations of classical antiquity. Its visionary synthesis of Roman, Greek, and Egyptian architectural and artistic traditions has attracted scholarly attention ever since the villa’s rediscovery in the Renaissance and has inspired generations of artists, architects, and writers—from Palladio to Le Corbusier, and from Piranesi to Yourcenar.

The tour will be led by Professors Francesco de Angelis and Marco Maiuro, the co-directors of Columbia’s Advanced Program of Ancient History and Art (APAHA). Its main aim will be to give a sense of the variety and complexity, as well as of the beauty, of the site. It will explore the characteristics and functions of the different spaces of the Villa, from the reception and dining areas to the baths and the gardens, and from the servant quarters to the private artificial island of the Emperor. It will include sectors of the Villa that are usually closed to the public. Moreover, the tour will give participants the unique opportunity to visit APAHA’s current excavation areas and to learn more about Columbia’s projects at the site. Participants will also be able to visit the exhibition “Hadrian and Greece: Hadrian’s Villa between Classicism and Hellenism”, featuring several statues of exceptional quality on loan from Greece.