I visited the three villas in Tivoli on a Monday in June 2018. The planning for this day was done the day before with the help of my hostel receptionist. I had been encouraged by other backpackers to visit Tivoli, but had been told that it was not humanly possible to visit all three villas in one day. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is possible and even easy to tour all three sites in one day. I determined the logistics of transportation and validated that all three locations were open despite the fact that it was a Monday, and I was off and running!

I took the COTRAL bus to Tivoli from the Ponte Mammolo station in Rome. It is necessary to buy the ticket from a ticket machine before boarding, but this is the most confusing system I have encountered on my European journey. The machine, rather than simply asking for the destination, asks questions about zones and distances, which left me very confused. So I bought a ticket at random and hopped on the bus as it was leaving the station. Luckily, it worked! It is possible to get off the bus very close to Villa Adriana, before reaching Tivoli itself.

Villa Adriana is a Roman archaeological site of remarkable magnitude. A small museum at the reception desk gives an idea of its gigantic size with a model of the site at its peak. The first striking building on the visit is the wall surrounding the gigantic Pecile. This is the largest building on the site. The columns and basins of the Teatro Maritimo are then quite impressive. The walls, columns, arches and domes of an impressive number of structures are still standing (or have been restored). That is particularly visible in the few well-preserved Terme. The Canopo, with its elongated water basin (119 m long!) lined with numerous sculptures, including a crocodile, is the most aesthetic and photogenic part.

The emperor Hadrian really did build himself a grandiose city, the remains of which are still a very interesting site. A self-guided tour of Villa Adriana is easy and instructive thanks to the numerous interpretation panels in several languages. There are also maps of the site at various points to help with orientation. Walking around the entire site kept me busy for just over two hours. It is possible to catch a local bus directly from the museum gate to the centre of Tivoli. Villa Gregoriana and Villa D'Este were next. In the end, this villa was my favourite of the three.