Rodolfo Lanciani e Villa Adriana

Rodolfo Lanciani’s involvement with Hadrian’s Villa near Tivoli dates back in time. The great archaeologist, “father” of the ancient topography of Rome and the surrounding countryside, spent the first years of his life in the nearby little town of Montecelio, where he worked as an engineer for the local municipality. Even the archaeological excavations in Villa Adriana, for the new Kingdom of Italy, were directed by Lanciani since 1878. In any case his scholarship had an international resonance, mainly in England and the United States. The fieldwork activity was supported by an enthusiastic research in written and graphic sources, and in this context we should consider the origin of his collection. The interest for the Tiburtine area is documented, in particular, by the acquisition of Agostino Penna’s and Luigi Canina’s drawings and engravings. This paper focuses on the brief description of Villa Adriana, published by Lanciani in 1906, one year after the survey of the archaeological area by the students of the School for Engineers at Rome University. An interesting example of the relationship between architectural history and design is offered by Canina’s reconstruction of the supposed – and unlikely – entrance of the Villa, in correspondence to the two similar ancient Roman mausolea. The reconstruction is strictly connected with his earlier projects for the new entrance of the extension of Villa Pinciana, planned for Camillo Borghese.