August 25, 2009 – Tivoli: Villa d’Este And Rome: Pantheon & Teatro di Marcello

For this day we planned a very interesting combo consisting of a morning trip to the fascinating gardens – Villa d’Este in Tivoli and in the afternoon/evening after returning to Rome – the second attempt to see the Pantheon and later – a classical music concert at the Teatro di Marcello.

Villa d'Este, Tivoli

Here is how it all played out very nicely. By the way, we had to rely on the Internet research with regards to the Villa d’Este part as Rick Steves didn’t cover it in his “Italy 2009″ book. Still, what we found on the Web was sufficient and we didn’t get lost. Well, maybe we walked a bit farther than we were supposed to, but because of that we saw even more in Tivoli.

UPDATE: While updating this post in June 2010 we found a fantastic resource on how to get to Tivoli to visit Villa d’Este, including how to buy bus tickets – http://tinyurl.com/tivoli-daytrip – by Ron in Rome. Thanks to sydneynick at tripadvisor.com for a tip about this great blog post.

• Good solid breakfast at the hotel.
• Bus to Termini, arrived there at 10:50 AM. Took the Line B metro (direction: Rebibbia) to the Ponte Mammolo metro station. At Ponte Mammolo Station, we went downstairs and found the newsstand to buy the tickets for the Cotral bus (€2 pp, one way). We got the tickets for the return trip too so that we wouldn’t have to look for them in Tivoli. Next, we went upstairs and located Platform 2 and waited there for the COTRAL bus to Tivoli. The blue bus arrived and we were lucky to get the seats!
• The trip was very nice and the bus arrived in Tivoli around the noon, but apparently we missed the stop closest to the Villa d’Este and we got off at the last stop in Tivoli where we learned from the driver that we would have to walk back to the center and from there to the gardens. We didn’t mind that as we had an opportunity to do even more sightseeing in Tivoli than we planned. The only problem was that it was very hot, but we got new supply of water and bravely walked ahead following the signs to the Villa.
  

  Villa d'Este, Tivoli

• Reached Villa d’Este around 1:15 PM. The tickets were €10 pp. As its official website states, Villa d’Este is “masterpiece of the Italian Garden. It is included in the UNESCO world heritage list and with its impressive concentration of fountains, nymphs, grottoes, plays of water, and music, it constitutes a much-copied model for European gardens in the mannerist and baroque styles.” The Villa d’Este consisting of two main parts – the Villa (the Palace) and the gardens – is a one of the finest examples of Renaissance architecture and the Italian Renaissance garden. The rooms of the Palace were decorated under the artists of the late Roman Mannerism – Livio Agresti, Federico Zuccari, Durante Alberti, Girolamo Muziano, Cesare Nebbia and Antonio Tempesta. Villa d’Este’s most famous item in the gardens is the Fountain of the Hydraulic Organ, but it features about 500 other fountains, pools and water troughs. The water is supplied by the Aniene River, which is partly diverted through the town, and by the Rivellese spring, which supplies a cistern under the villa’s courtyard. Another famous fountain is the central Fontana del Bicchierone (“Fountain of the Great Cup”) attributed to Bernini.
• After a few hours spent around the world-class fountains and other water works, we left the Villa d’Este at 3:20 PM.
• Found the COTRAL bus stop to get back to Rome. Bus appeared around 3:45 PM and were taken to the depot at the Ponte Mammolo metro station. From there we took the Line B metro to Termini (arrived around 4:30 PM).
• Termini: meal at McDonald’s 4:55 PM.
  

  Pantheon, Rome

• From Piazza dei Cinquecento we took bus H and got off at Largo Argentina Square and from there walked along Via dei Cestari to the Pantheon at Piazza della Rotonda (6:20 PM). This time the church was open and we could enjoy not only its exterior, but also its magnificent interior. The entry is free, opening hours are: Mon-Sat 8:30 AM-7:30 PM, Sun 9 AM-6 PM, holidays 9 AM-1 PM; closed for Mass Sat 5 PM and Sun 10:30 AM. We used one of Rick Steves’ audioutours downloaded from Rick Steves’ Italy Audio Tours at iTunes and it was very helpful in exploring the Pantheon. This is one of the most fascinating architectural achievements of ancient Rome perfectly preserved till today and the only ancient building in Rome continuously used since its construction by Marcus Agrippa as a temple to all the gods of Ancient Rome, later rebuilt by Emperor Hadrian (about 126 AD). Since the 7th century, the Pantheon has been used as a Roman Catholic church dedicated to “St. Mary and the Martyrs” but it is informally known as “Santa Maria Rotonda.” This easily recognizable building has a circular center with a portico of 16 monolithic Egyptian granite columns under a pediment opening into the rotunda, under a coffered, concrete dome, with a central opening (oculus) to the sky (9 metres wide). The Pantheon’s dome is the world’s largest un-reinforced concrete dome. The height to the oculus and the diameter of the interior circle are the same, 43.3 metres (142 ft). A number of famous people are buried at the Pantheon: the painters Raphael and Annibale Carracci, the composer Arcangelo Corelli, the architect Baldassare Peruzzi and two kings of Italy: Vittorio Emanuele II and Umberto I. The Pantheon’s is considered by many as a symbol of the highest architectural excellence and its style can be seen in many buildings of the 19th and 20th centuries, with numerous city halls, universities, and public libraries following its portico-and-dome structure.
• While most hotels in Rome provide Internet access (e.g., our hotel – the Executive Hotel – had a Wi-Fi spot in the restaurant), there are surprisingly few Internet caffees and wireless hotspots in the city. We noticed one near the Termini, another one at Via Barberini (EasyEverything), but the one we tried was called Yex INTERNET at Piazza Sant’Andrea della Valle 1 (7:27 PM). They required a passport to use their station, but it was rather cheap – something like €1.20 for 15 minutes.
• Bus to Piazza Venezia
  

  Teatro di Marcello, Rome

• Walked to the Teatro di Marcello with the moon starting to show up on the sky(7:55 PM). We bought online from home tickets to a classical music concert there. The event was from the series called “Nights at Marcellus Theatre”, it started at 8 PM with a short presentation of the archeological site of the Teatro di Marcello and it was followed by the piano performance by Serena Ebner. She played: R. Schumann: Faschingsschwank aus Wien, S. Rachmaninov: Etude – Tableau in Mi b Minore and F. Liszt: Sonata in Si Minore. We paid online €21 pp, which included reservation fee. Tickets at the door (few were available) were €18 pp.
• After the concert we took the bus from Piazza Venezia to the Termini station and had supper there and finally, we took the bus from Piazza dei Cinquecento and got to the hotel.