Hadrian travelled widely and if he saw something he liked on his travels he would copy it if it was a building or a statue or bring it home if it was a good looking guy like Antinous. This must have thrilled his wife Sabina whose family owned the land on which the villa is built. Here are the lovely threesome.
Hadrian was mightily enamoured by things Greek which explains why he is the first Roman emperor to wear a beard. After seeing the round colonnaded temple of Venus on the Greek isle of Knidos he built a perfect copy on the grounds of the villa.
Inspired by what he saw on a trip to Egypt he built a water feature to remind him of the canal which led from the Nile near Alexandria to the Sanctuary of Serapis at Canopis. His copy of the sanctuary with it's dome covered entrance at the end of the canal was used as a huge outdoor dining area adorned with numerous fountains.
On one side of the canal he placed copies of the statues called Caryatids which hold up the porch of the Erechtheum on the Acropolis in Athens.
On the other side of the canal is an alligator shown here with our MOOC professor Diana Kleiner in her younger days.
The visit to the villa was followed by by lunch at nearby Tenuta di Rocca Bruna which is one of your up market agro turismos.
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