Secrets of past glory at Hadrian's villa
Show charts the rise and fall of emperor's palace
01 April, 19:03
(ANSA) - Rome, April 1 - An exhibition charting the rise and
fall of Villa Adriana, the 2nd-century palace built by the
Emperor Hadrian, opened in the remains of the complex east of
Rome on Thursday.Dozens of artefacts originally from the villa and now scattered in collections around the world have returned to the site for the event at Tivoli, around 30 kilometres outside the capital. "We have secured some prestigious loans of absolute importance for this show," said Lazio Archaeology Superintendent Marina Sapelli Ragni.
The event, on show in the artificial grotto of Conopus, offers visitors to the complex a rare opportunity to admire many of these artefacts in their original context.
Among the items on display are a beautiful red marble statue of a tipsy faun, a drinking goblet decorated with cranes and serpents, and portraits of Hadrian's wife Vibia Sibina and Marcus Aurelius.
There are also busts of Hadrian's handsome young lover Antinoo and the last Roman emperor Alexander Severus, as well as fragments of beautiful mosaicked floors. In addition to focusing on the complex in its heyday, the exhibition will also study excavations at the site over the last ten years and consider how much ground has yet to be uncovered. Of the 120 hectares of land the palace once covered, just 80 hectares are owned by the state. Although owners have allowed archaeologists limited access to their land, this has inevitably stunted research, said Ragni.
The exhibition looks at this problem among others facing those seeking to unlock the site's secrets and explains efforts under way to acquire the remaining third of the land. "Hadrian's Villa is the queen of Roman residences, the most famous and the largest - but so much of it is still a celebrated mystery," said Lazio's cultural heritage director, Mario Lolli Ghetti.
Work on Hadrian's Villa began in 118 AD and continued for many years, eventually producing a sprawling complex of 30 buildings stretching for over a kilometre.
The emperor reportedly had a low opinion of the traditional imperial palace on the Palatine Hill in Rome and although the villa was originally designed as an occasional retreat, Hadrian eventually lived there permanently.
From there Hadrian governed the empire, connected by a postal service to Rome.
Although some of Hadrian's successors used the villa, it eventually fell into disuse.
Cardinal Ippolito II d'Este sealed the fate of the complex in the 16th century, when he scavenged much of the marble and statues to decorate his own luxurious villa, today famous for its fountains.
The new exhibition, entitled 'Villa Adriana. Una storia mai finita' (Hadrian's Villa: A Never-Finished Story) runs until November 1.
