📷 Paliano · Wikimedia Commons

Where in the world

Italy

Hadrian's Villa

Roman · Italy

Field notes

civilizations: Roman
types: Palace
occupied: 117 CE — 138 CE
visitors: 232,952 / year
country: Italy

The site

Hadrian's Villa is a monumental Roman palace complex built around AD 120 by the emperor Hadrian near Tivoli, some 20 km from Rome. More than thirty buildings spread across artificial terraces amid gardens, water basins, and fountains, covering over a square kilometre, larger than Pompeii itself. Its architects exploited concrete to create daring curved forms considered unrivalled until the Baroque, making the villa, now a World Heritage Site, one of the most complex Roman residences known.

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