The Villa d'Este in Tivoli is the ultimate expression of an antiquarian garden in the Renaissance, the result of the genius of artists and intellectuals who designed and created monumental fountains, extraordinary grottoes, nymphaeums, basins and lush decorations. The residence of Cardinal Ippolito II d'Este was built on the foundations of an earlier Roman residence designed by Pirro Ligorio from 1550 onwards. Villa d'Este constitutes the concrete representation of a cultured and refined ideal of living. After having admired the richness and uniqueness of the architecture and landscape of the ancient Villa Adriana and having appreciated the close relationship between the buildings, gardens and water, the cultured and wealthy Cardinal Ippolito II d'Este decided to give rise to its reinterpretation in the light of Renaissance taste and aspirations. Villa d'Este is therefore unique for this close relationship with the ancient model: only in antiquity had such magnificence been achieved, a titanic feat that astonished contemporaries, representing an absolute novelty in the panorama of 16th century villas. The complex owes its majesty and importance to the presence of the Aniene river, whose flow has allowed human genius to explore the infinite artistic potential of water with marvellous visual and acoustic effects set in a unique context.