While being consuls of Rome, Quinto Ninio Asta and Publio Manlio Volpisco, in the year 867 from the foundation of the city (equivalent to the year 114 of the Christian age), around the beginning of the II century a.C., a Villa in Tivoli was built by one of Volpisco’s parents, and mentioned by the poet Stazio in his “Sylvae”, I, 3. This sumptuous Villa was so spacious that it extended from the present entrance of Villa Gregoriana to the Sirene Hotel; the ancient sources in fact tell us that the Villa was complex and big enough. The ground was crossed by a water channel that came from the near Aniene river, that divided it into two parts; one was located inside Villa Gregoriana while the other was located near the Sirene Hotel.

Villa of Manlio Volpisco

The choice of the place where the Villa had to be built was conditioned by the fact that, the sacred wood of the Acropolis extended to this point, the Sybil cave was here, the magnificent and impressive temples of the Acropolis were also here. Some experts think, from their research, that the Villa was reportedly constituted not by two but by three areas, crossed by the Stipa and Chiavicone or Volpisco canals that represented a sort of safety valve when the Aniene started to swell. The Stipa generates the “Cascata del Bernini” (from Luigi Bernini, who in 1669 restored the canal of roman origins). The poet Stazio, in his work “Sylvae”, considers an attraction of the P. Manlio Volpisco’s Villa the fact that it was furnished with drinkable water originated from the Acqua Marcia. Interesting enough, the pan pipes were made in lead. In fact, during the exploration of the Villa, an aqueduct was found as well as a pool used for fish farming.

Actually, only 13 areas of the Villa still remain; they slope down a little, and are opened and destined to be a support on which to put the many parts of the Villa above. The architect’s idea was that, looking at them, they had to give the impression to be in front of natural caves and for this reason, wherever possible, the rocky ground was left untouched. Anyway, on the base of the Latin sources, we presume that the dwelling was made by different singular pavilions. But today, the interpretation of the ruins is not easy, even if Canina has tried to rebuild the Villa the way it presumably was.