Every design for Tivoli

Tibur, as the Romans knew it, claimed to be older than Rome itself, and Virgil called it Tibur Superbum, words that still appear on the town's coat of arms. The people here are still called tiburtini.

The Tempio di Vesta, a round temple perched above the falls of the Aniene, is the image most locals would pick for their town. Beside it stands the Tempio della Sibilla, and below them the river crashes into the gorge of the Parco di Villa Gregoriana. In Roman times Tivoli was where the wealthy came for clean water and fine views: Augustus, Maecenas and Horace had villas here, and the ruins of Hadrian's Villa lie just outside. Later came the Villa d'Este and its fountains, the Rocca Pia fortress, and the great Santuario di Ercole Vincitore on the edge of town.

For anyone from Tivoli, home is the climb up from the Roman Campagna, the town spread across the slopes of the Monti Tiburtini, and that moment at the top when the whole plain opens out towards Rome.