Villa D'Este - Part I

Today we were able to make it for one last long day trip around the outskirts of Rome. Nothing too fancy but indeed a nice visit to one of three major villas around Rome. The town is called Tivoli, about 30 kilometers outside of Rome, going East. The place is known for its waters that have health qualities, and people come to from all over the world.

It seems like everyone knew about the place from a long time ago, beginning with the Romans, who built beautiful properties for their leisure time. We visited Villa Adriana two years ago (you could find some info about it from an older blog of mine), and this year we did Villa d'Este, the original property of Cardinal Ippolito d'Este, from 1575. You can easily tell from what is left of the place that the cardinal had a real good taste, in architecture and water engineering.

I shall take a bit longer to describe about it in part two of this entry. For now I wanted to make it to say a few words about the special company we had during the visit, besides my brother and niece. Our friend Elisa, my Spanish old friend from university, joined us with her kids, Francesco and Susanna, and another little friend of theirs, Rebecca. It was a pleasure to be able to make it to see one another before we left, especially for our kids to see how their distant friends from Rome grow up, what they experience as ids of the same age and how we connect with our respective lives, even if only in a few chats over a summer lazy afternoon. Marco befriended especially Rebecca, whom we hear has quite a talent in opera singing music. Francesco and Susanna have grown very fast and seemed genuinely happy to catch up with us, as they remember our previous trips and how we keep in touch with Christmas exchanges and pictures.

We not only discovered the beauty of the villa together, but we also topped the evening with a dinner at a small pizza place in Tivoli - one where we were served by a lovely lady who is from Toronto and plans to open a new pizza place.... in Edmonton, of all places! I think this is more than a mere coincidence, right?  Needless to say the food was delicious as much as company, and we are happy to have collected some pictures to commemorate the experience and know we can treasure the memories for a long to come.

The official pics of the blog are more than 500 by now, and I hope to still collect a few more before leaving. However our connection to the net is not as secure starting tomorrow that is why I wanted to commit a short entry to the blog before midnight tonight, as I am not sure when I will be able to do the same again soon.

As soon as I get hooked again I promised to share a few more interesting facts about the villa and a short video of the water fountains that fill it so joyously. Till next time!