October 8, 2021 • Tivoli Gardens

Some kind friends offered to let us borrow their car.  So before our temple shift later today, we took a morning drive out to Tivioli to visit the Villa d'Este with its spectacular gardens.  The palace and gardens were built by Ippolito d'Este, a Catholic Cardinal and son of Lucrezia Borgia (the femme-fatale who probably inspired the Blood, Sweat & Tears song "Lucretia McEvil")!  Ippolito fell out of favor with the church when he demolished a Benedictine monastery to build his palace.  But history remembers him kindly for his beautiful gardens with hundreds of gravity-powered fountains.  

The Oval Fountain

The Fountain of Neptune

Avenue of the Hundred Fountains

Terraced Gardens

Pomegranates

 

The Dragon Fountain

The Water Organ 

(It actually plays)

Deluxe Panini's (panini di lusso) in Tivoli Old City