Diana from Villa d’Este

Diana is opening to the public after an hour’s drive outside Rome of Tivoli in the luxury gardens of Villa d’Este in Tivoli. After 50 years of closure and two years of meticulous restoration. Funded by iconic Roman fashion brand Fendi, restorers from the Autonomous Institute of Villa Adriana and Villa d’Este (VILLÆ), who maintain the Renaissance estate and Hadrian’s country palace next to it, have brought the crumbling, darkened, moisture-damaged space back from the broke of dilapidation and literally turned the lights back on, showing casing the vivid polychrome wall and ceiling mosaics and when they first fascinated the Este family in 1572, relief.

Villa d’Este enjoys the iconic fountain surrounding the extraordinary evening villa as a huge, complex terraced garden, and has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2001. It was commissioned in 1560 by Cardinal Ippolito Ippolito II d’Este, the son of Lucrezia Borgia and Thrf’s third husband. The Pope Committee can only fail at no less than six times. He finally gave up and decided to retire to Tivoli. He is a dedicated patron of the arts and is deeply involved in the renovation and construction of the Ester palaces in Ferrara, Rome, Siena and Fultaniblo. He was also the main promoter and patron behind the restoration of his ancient neighbour, Villa Adriana, a huge rural palace complex built by Emperor Hadrian (117-138 AD).

Ippolito hired architect Pirro Ligorio to build a grand castle with Giardino Delle Meraviglie (Marvel Gardens), which would be a model for the stately gardens of Europe. The garden is decorated with many fountains, basins, waterfalls and grottoes. There are some jets that are triggered as visitors walk through arcades and some hydraulic automatons ever made.

Inspired by nymphs from ancient Greece and Rome, Paolo Calandrino added Grotto di Diana to the garden between 1570 and 1572. It is located on the upper level of the Cardinal’s walking garden and has a cross-shaped chamber design with large 5 people around the corner of the cross. Central area has a niche on the walls of artificial natural rock background and fountains. The three arms of the cross raised the vaulted ceiling, Bass relief and another fountain, his third arm leads to the foot of the mountain, overlooking the hills in the distance and viewing Rome in the distance.

The interior of the cave is decorated with multi-chromosomal inlays made of a variety of materials – stucco, shell fragments, enamel, glass paste inlays, glass candies, semi-precious stones – semi-precious stones – creating texture and movement in light reflection. The vaulted ceiling has marine patterns and the wall mosaic has scenes of amoeba from Ovid. The floors feature brown terracotta clay on the porch, and the colorful glass terracotta tiles feature the Este family heraldic logos including lilies, eagles and apples.

The cave’s recovery began in 2023. The Villewell protectors found the lack of sculpture and relief, mortar loss, oxidized metal support, and rapidly deteriorating mosaics and ceramic tiles, and were eroded by moisture and wind. The focus of the restoration is on the most conservative intervention, using authentic materials and techniques as much as possible when necessary, while combining modern elements when necessary: ​​a protective glass panel added to the loggia to the Roman landscape, a new lighting system that emphasizes the extraordinary colors and textures of the Nymphaeum, a new figure to enhance accessibility.

On May 6, Grotto di Diana officially reopened to the public.