Local's Guide to the Tivoli region
Perched above a dramatic valley just outside of Rome, the former monastery of Sant’Antonio was built over a Roman villa believed to have belonged to the poet Horace. Landmark’s Italy Manager Elena Manafredi shares her local knowledge of this very special region.
Cicadas, dazzling light, and a dry heat are typical of Central Italy’s Mediterranean climate. But up here in high Tivoli, the air is different. On the foothills of the Tiburtine mountains that rise up behind Rome, and where the emperor Hadrian chose to build his magnificent Villa Adriana, a cool breeze known by the locals as ‘Ponentino’ always blows from the wooded valleys, breaking the heat of the warm evenings.
The sharp rise in altitude between the Apennine mountains and the Roman plain creates small but noticeable variations in temperature and climate, and the great waterfall of Aniene helps to cool the air. Now a Landmark for 12, the former monastery of Sant’Antonio, sits in terraced gardens of olive, citrus and Mediterranean plants, right in front of this waterfall and its lush green valley.
Villas, temples and castles
View of Tivoli from the Valley, with the Cascatelli and the Santuario di Ercole Vincitore 1819
This same valley filled the eyes of JMW Turner in the early 1800s, whose painting made Tivoli and its waterfalls one of the most important destinations of the Grand Tour.
From here, today just as in Turner’s time, you can discover important sites from Roman history like Hadrian’s Villa Adriana, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1999, and Sanctuary of Hercules Victor, one of the major examples of Roman cult architecture of the Republican era. Then there’s Mensa Ponderaria (a former public weigh-house), and Plautii’s Mausoleum, dating back to the first century AD.
Not far from Tivoli, among the villages of the Castelli Romani region, is the scenic hilltop village of Castel Gandolfo (the Pope’s summer residence), the town of Ariccia with its famous three-tiered bridge and the 1600s Bernini’s architectural complex Piazza della Repubblica. Food is excellent almost everywhere around here. Bread, all types of pasta, cheese and for non-vegetarians porchetta (roasted pork), coppiette (dried meat) and scottadito (lamb chops) are very typical.
Stay at Sant'Antonio
Perched above a dramatic valley just outside of Rome, the former monastery of Sant’Antonio was built over a Roman villa believed to have belonged to the poet Horace. It’s now an atmospheric Landmark for groups of up to 12 people, within easy reach of the Eternal City and the many temples, shrines, monasteries, castles and villas that dot this inspiring landscape.
Gardens and villages
For garden lovers, Giardino di Ninfa in the southern area of Lazio Region is among the most beautiful gardens in Europe. To the north, towards Viterbo, is Villa Lante in Bagnaia with its Mannerist garden and the Sacro Bosco (sacred grove) in Bomarzo, a stunning Mannerist monumental complex designed with monstrous statues which intended to astonish visitors with their arcane symbolism. In Tivoli, visit the Renaissance gardens of Villa d’Este, whose water features have been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2001. Then there’s Villa Gregoriana, a natural park representative of the sublime imagery beloved of the Romantic period. In Frascati is Villa Aldobrandini, with its beautiful Renaissance/Baroque garden.
In the village of Vitorchiano you can actually see the Moai, a 20-foot-tall Moai statue carved in local peperino stone, which is claimed to be the only original Moai statue outside of Easter Island (apart from the one at the British Museum in London).
Discover more places to visit near Sant'Antonio, or read more about the building's rich history.
