Rome --Villa Adrianna or Ostia Antica on the way to Civitivecchia?

[MalibuCA]

We have a guide (Stefano of Rome Cabs) taking us from Rome to our cruise ship, and on the way, we wanted to do some sightseeing. We were thinking about Villa Adriana. Stefano agreed, but also suggested Ostia Antica as an alternative. Which is more interesting and more memorable?

[franu]

Just to give you an idea about location, Villa Adriana (Hadrian's Villa) is Northeast of Rome whereas Civitavecchia is Northwest. I have only seen Ostia Antica from the airplane but have been to Tivoli.

 

I would not go to Villa Adriana without also going to Villa D'Este. They are both in Tivoli but quite different. I was in awe of the amazingly intricate engineering for all of the wonderful fountains designed to work without pumps. The gardens are really lovely but the fountains were spectacular.

 

This map will show you where these places are in relation to each other. I believe that it may be of some help in making your decision.

 

http://encarta.msn.com/map_701517107/Tivoli.html

 

Fran

[Hlitner]

I totally agree with the previous post. Your guide is probably reluctant to go to Tivoli because its 180 degrees in the opposite direction from the port (when leaving Rome) and the traffic the last 5 miles into Tivoli can be vicious since its a congested 2 lane road. You would need at least half a day to see both attractions in Tivoli. Personally, we enjoyed the Villa Adriana more,, but the Villa D'Este does have amazing gardens.

 

Hank

[MalibuCA]

Thanks so much for the advice. My first instinct was to pick Tivoli because its so well known, but I didn't want to miss out if there was something better. I welcome more opinions, but it looks like we will enjoy Tivoli. If we leave Rome about 10:00 a.m. and visit both sites in Tivoli, can we expect to arrive at the ship around 4:00 or 5:00?

[teacherman]

We visited Ostia Antica 2 years ago when we were in Rome for a week. As I recall, it is "ruins" of an ancient city. It was interesting to us to visit and try to visualize how it was many years ago. Some people said it is a better ruins site than Pompeii, but I have only been to Ostia. It is not a place of beautiful buildings or fountains, but simply an archaeological site. We visited it because we had an extra half-day after we had seen the main Rome sites.

[Hlitner]

Malibu, My only other suggestion would be that you leave Rome much earlier than 10 am. I believe the Ville d"este opens at 8:30 (not sure of the exact opening time of Villa Adriana). You need to figure on about an hour drive from Rome to Tivoli (could be more in heavy traffic) and probably 2 hours to get from Tivoli all the way around Rome and to the port. Those times are really subject to traffic woes just like in any large metropolitan area. If you leave at 10 that is going to have you really rushing through everything without much time to smell the Roses (they do have plenty of those in Villa D'Este's gardens) or to enjoy lunch. We actually had an interesting experience last year when we stayed at Tivoli (2 nights). We went over to the Villa D'Este in the morning for our visit only to find it was closed the entire morning for a "staff meeting." This was not a schedules closing and even the local government tourist office (only 3 blocks from the Villa) was not aware it was closed. That is not a normal thing for the Villa, but its too darn typical of Italy.

 

Hank

[franu]

Having been to Villa d' Este twice previously without my DH I wanted to share with him the specialness of the gardens. We arrived in the late afternoon only to find that the year we went they were not open in the evenings. I am reminded of this when reading Hank's post.

 

I believe that with your proposed schedule you could possibly be too late. I don't think that I would chance it. As I don't drive in Italy, I suggest that you ask your driver if it is realistic and also have him find out whether they will be open before you drive there.

 

I enjoyed it too much to rush it

Fran