The official residence of Emperor Hadrian was built in 117 AD about 30 km from Rome on a vast tufa plain at the foot of the Tiburtine Mountains. It became an immense laboratory for architectural experimentation, remaining an open site until the Emperor's death in 138 AD. Hadrian wanted the buildings in the villa to be named after famous men, while the Maritime theatre with seaside shapes and decorations was an invitation to retreat and dream. The Pecile, a monumental courtyard with porticoes on four sides, enclosed a pool that was 290m long and 97m wide. This was the perfect place for the post lunch walk advised by the Emperor's physicians. The Large and Small Thermal Baths were both covered with sail vaults, while the Small Baths presented an extremely original octagonal floor plan. The Nymphaeum had a circular floor plan and the Temple to Venus has a statue of Aphrodite Knidia, a copy of the Greek Atolos, in the centre. The scale and grandiose nature of this villa, so beloved by the Emperor, still has the power to astonish today.

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