Hadrian's Villa is a World Heritage Site located in Tivoli, 17 km from Rome. Forty major built features--many of them well-preserved--are disposed over ca. 250 acres of land. Built by the Emperor Hadrian (reigned 117-138 CE) in three phases, the estate served as a place where Rome's leader could take working vacations outside the capital.
Antiquarians, architects, and archaeologists have studied the villa since the sixteenth century. The focus of studies to date has been the discovery and survey of the remains, including the buildings, decorative elements such as floor pavements and opus sectile wall covering, works of art, furniture, and gardens. In recent decades, scholars have turned to formal analysis of the individual structures and their orientation to each other and to the terrain. The latest study is by Federica Chiappetta, a member of our consulting team. It deals with the relatively neglected subject of how the individual rooms and buildings were used, and by whom (see F. Chiappetta, I percorsi antichi di villa Adriana. Quasar: Rome, 2008).
The VWHL's Hadrian's Villa Project was started in 2007 with the primary goal of creating a new 3D digital model of the entire villa, including a digital terrain map, the roads, tunnels, buildings, and gardens. Interior spaces with sufficient surviving evidence to support detailed reconstruction will also be included in the model. The model is based on the plans created by Chiappetta as supplemented by our own survey of the heights of the existing walls. Once the model is finished, its features will be enhanced with the documentation needed to understand the basis of the reconstruction. It will be populated with avatars and bots representing the major groups of users that frequented the place: the emperor and empress, high government officials, guests, and servants. We will simulate environmental conditions such as weather (based on actual historic weather data for the Tivoli area), smoke from furnaces, and noise from everyday activities. Secondary goals include publication of: (1) the archive of American architects Robert Mangurian and Mary Ann Ray, who surveyed the entire site from 1985-1995; (2) a bibliography of important works of scholarship; (3) a catalogue of works of art known to have come from the villa.
View of the Canopus today at Hadrian's Villa (left), and view of the new 3D model of the Canopus (right).
Contact:
Prof. Bernard Frischer
Email: bernard.d.frischer (at) gmail.com
Cell: +1-310-266-0183