"Villa d’Este, masterpiece of the Italian Garden, with its impressive concentration of fountains, nymphs, grottoes, plays of  water, and music, it constitutes a much-copied model for European gardens in the mannerist and baroque styles. The garden is generally considered within the larger, and altogether extraordinary, context of Tivoli itself: its landscape, art and history which includes the important ruins of ancient villas such as the Villa Adriana, as well as a zone rich in caves and waterfalls displaying the unending battle between water and stone. The imposing constructions and the series of terraces above terraces bring to mind the hanging gardens of Babylon, one of the wonders of the ancient world. The addition of water, including an aqueduct tunneling beneath the city, evokes the engineering skill of the Romans themselves." 

Visited in 2007