DRAFT

The Pecile (Fig. 1, n. 6)

Contributor: Joshua Rosenheim
Published: 2021-04-21
Modified: 2025-06-29

Province

Region

Region IV

Location

Location Description

DESCRIPTION

Villa Adriana, erected by emperor Hadrian at the beginning of the II cent. A.D., occupies a vast area of 126 hectares. It was a beautiful estate strategically located near Tivoli and, at the same time, not very far from Rome (WINNEFELD 1895; KÄHLER 1950; AURIGEMMA 1961; RAKOB 1973; BROWN 1964). Prior to the Hadrianic settlement, an ancient villa, dating back to the late republican time, already stood there. Probably it belonged to Hadrian's family and, as a matter of fact, many scholars think that Hadrian chose this estate as the ideal one because he already knew the place and was attached to it (LUGLI 1927). Certainly he preserved and restored the original building and made it the nucleus of his private quarters.

The realization of this magnificent residence must have been a cherished dream of Hadrian, and he must have planned it long before becoming an emperor. This is the only way to explain how the works for its construction began immediately after his election and his return to Rome in 118 A.D. Hadrian died in 138 A.D. when his ideal residence was nearly completed. Nearly, because there was still some work to be done. Some important halls of the Great Baths were not finished, and the model for a Stadium, found among the ruins of his last building-yard in the quarters of the stonecutters (CAPRINO 1996-97; SALZA PRINA RICOTTI 1992-93, p. 73; SALZA PRINA RICOTTI 2000, pp. 144-147), was never brought to the unknown place where Hadrian had planned to build it. The Emperor's death put an abrupt end to all activities, and some of the gardens he planned to create, and for which fountains and pavilions had already been built, were never done or, if ever they were completed, seem to have been soon abandoned (SALZA PRINA RICOTTI 1992-93, pp. 000-000). As a matter of fact after him Villa Adriana was only partially lived in by his successors and was solely used for occasional visits. It became just one of the many country houses pertaining to the imperial praedia. Some of the existing gardens (Fig. 1), the ones nearer to the center of the residence and the monumental ones, were maintained and irrigated up to the end of the Roman Empire, a fact which is now proved by the concentration of extractable lead found in their soil, and which is due to the use of lead pipes for irrigation (FOSS ET ALII 1990; FOSS 1989-90; FOSS 1992; TIMPSON ET ALII 1994; FOSS, SALZA PRINA RICOTTI 1996). As a consequence of Hadrian's death, some others sites, which he had planned to be attractive and important, got no irrigation at all, thus their soil contains only a minimal quantity of extractable lead, about the same amount that is ordinarily found in modern agricultural fields.

Garden

The Pecile (Fig. 1, n. 6)\

Keywords

Garden Description

The Pecile (Fig. 20) was never excavated as a garden. Thus, today, we have only the large pond, 30 m wide x 116 m long (Fig. 21) which hosts a flock of white geese (Fig. 20, A). A garden must have been spread all around it, but its flowerbeds need still to be investigated (SALZA PRINA RICOTTI 2000, pp. 139-141, fig. 45). If, as in Villa Adriana often happens, they have been dug in the tufa platform, sooner or later we will be able to see their shapes and reconstruct the garden's appearance. For the moment we have to be content with the dark green bushes which, cut in the shape of columns, mark the spots once occupied by the ones of the monumental peristyle 100 m wide and 248 m long. On the northern side of the Pecile, we can still admire the long wall around which, once, ran the double portico used by the Emperor for his daily strolls (Fig. 20, B): three spins around the central wall corresponded to a mile as written on a marble slate (HÜLSEN 1896; MANCINI 1952; COARELLI 1997, pp. 207-209). He could circle around it as many times as his doctor had prescribed him to do (Fig. 22). According to ancient Romans' belief, long walks offered an opportunity to exercise and were necessary to preserve both health and fitness. At the western end of the Pecile, a pillared Belvedere offered to Villa Adriana's inhabitants the possibility to rest from time to time admiring the underlying plain and the city of Rome far away on the horizon.

Plans

Plan of the gardens at Hadrian's Villa
Fig. 1: Plan of Villa Adriana, Eugenia Salza Prina Ricotti.
Isometric plan of the Pecile Garden at Hadrian's Villa
Fig. 20: Isometry of the Pecile, Eugenia Salza Prina Ricotti.

Images

Photograph of the pond of the Pecile Garden at Hadrian's Villa
Fig. 21: The pond of the Pecile Garden, Eugenia Salza Prina Ricotti.
Photograph of the wall at the northern side of the Pecile Garden at Hadrian's Villa
Fig. 22: The wall of the Pecile Garden, Eugenia Salza Prina Ricotti.

Dates

Built between 118 and 138 CE

Excavation Date

unspecified

Bibliography

  • H. Winnefeld, Die Villa des Hadrian bei Tivoli, Berlin 1895, p. 154. (worldcat)
  • H. Kähler, Hadrian und sein Villa bei Tivoli, Berlin 1950. (worldcat)
  • S. Aurigemma, Villa Adriana, Roma 1961. (worldcat)
  • F. Rakob, "Der Bauplan einer kaiserlichen Villa," in W. Hartmann (ed.), Festschrift K. Langheit, Bönn 1973, pp. 113-125. (worldcat)
  • F. E. Brown, "Hadrianic Architecture," in L. F. Sadler (ed.), Essays in Memory of Karl Lehmann, New York 1964, pp. 55-58. (worldcat)
  • G. Lugli, "Studi topografici intorno alle antiche ville suburbane. VI. Villa Adriana. A. - Una villa di età repubblicana inclusa nelle contruzioni imperiali," Bullettino della Commissione archeologica Comunale di Roma 55, 1927, pp. 139-204. (worldcat)
  • C. Caprino, "Plastico marmoreo di uno stadio nella Villa Adriana a Tivoli," Rivista dell'Instuto nazionale di archeologia e storia dell'arte 3 s., 19-20 (1996-97), pp. 113-151. (worldcat)
  • E. Salza Prina Ricotti, "Nascita e sviluppo di Villa Adriana," Atti della Pontificia Accademia romana di archeologia: Rendiconti 65, 1992-93, p. 73. (worldcat)
  • E. Salza Prina Ricotti, Villa Adriana: il sogno di un imperatore, Roma 2000, pp. 144-147. (worldcat)
  • J. E. Foss, J. T. Ammons, M. E. Simmons, S. Y. Lee, R. C. Minter, "Genesis of soil developed in volcanic tufa at Hadrian's Villa near Rome," Agronomy Abstracts ASA, Madison WL 1990, p. 291. (worldcat)
  • J. E. Foss, "Appendice. Soils of Hadrian's Villa," in E. Salza Prina Ricotti, "Il sistema di irrigazione della Piazza d'Oro," Atti della Pontificia Accademia romana di archeologia: Rendiconti 62 (1989-90), pp. 151-157. (worldcat)
  • J. E. Foss, "Appendice. Soils of Hadrian's Villa," in W. F. Jashemski, E. Salza Prina Ricotti "Preliminary Excavations in the Gardens of Hadrian's Villa: the Canopus Area and the Piazza d'Oro" American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 96, No.4 (Oct. 1992), pp. 595-597. (worldcat) (jstor)
  • M. E. Timpson, J.E. Foss, R. J. Lewis, C. A. Stiles, "Soil interpretation of some Roman archaeological sites in Italy and Tunisia," 15th Int. Congr. of Soil Science, Vol. 6b, 1994, pp. 172-173. (worldcat)
  • J. E. Foss, E. Salza Prina Ricotti, "Lead Pipes Use in Ancient Roman Irrigation System and Content of Pb in the Soil of Archaeological Sites," Bulletin of the Metals Museum, Vol. 26 (1996-II), Aoba, Aramaki, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Japan, pp. 33-47. (worldcat)
  • E. Salza Prina Ricotti, Villa Adriana: il sogno di un imperatore, 2000, pp. 139-141, fig. 45. (worldcat)
  • Ch. Hülsen, "Zu den Institutsschriften" Archäologischer Anzeiger, 1896, pp. 47-48. (worldcat) (DigiZeitschriften)
  • G. Mancini, Inscriptiones Italiae, vol. IV, Regio IV, fasc. I, Tibur, Roma 1952, p. 113, n. 242. (worldcat)
  • F. Coarelli, "Il 'Pecile' di Villa Adriana e la Porticus triumphi" Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Römische Abteilung 104, 1997, pp. 207-217. (worldcat)

Places

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