I will be in Rome this April and I have enough time to see either Osita Antica or Tivoli. Any recommendations?

I found both very interesting, which I realize is not very helpful to you, sorry.

If you can spend a whole day in Tivoli, you can enjoy both Hadrian's Villa as well as Villa d'Este. In Ostia Antica, you're pretty much just at the one site the whole time. Villa d'Este, IMO, was breathtakingly beautiful. Ostia was very well-maintained and I enjoyed seeing the "termes" and the mosaics on the "sidewalk" in the ancient marketplace.

Buon Viaggio,
BC

I wasn't terribly impressed with Hadrian's Villa unlike a lot of others. However, I loved the Villa d'Este...wonderful fountains.

I'd do a quick google image search of both and see which one catches me faster.

I recommend that you go to Tivoli. The Ostia ruins are interesting. But at Tivoli, you get the best of two worlds. Ancient Roman ruins at Hadrian's Villa and Renaissance splendor at Villa d'Este. The fountains at Villa d'Este alone are worth the trip.

Hi Clare _ Here are some photos:

http://sights.seindal.dk/sight/901_H...s_Villa-6.html

http://sights.seindal.dk/sight/901_Hadrians_Villa.html

http://vandyck.anu.edu.au/work/teach...9e/tivoli.html

http://www.nimbustier.net/photos/2005/10/rome.html

Hope this helps ...

Steve

hi, clareita,

how long will you be in Rome?

we were there for 6 days last April and managed to get to both Tivoli and O/A.

You might be influenced by the means of transport - for tivoli, you get the metro to Piramide, then the suburban train in the direction of the Lido [Piramide is the end of the line so that's not a problem]. The train is pretty full and dirty and the journey is enlivened by beggars going up and down the carriages trying to get money out of the passengers. But O/A is very interesting, and there's a good cafe/restaurant.

To get to Tivoli, you get the metro to ponte mammolo, then the bus to Tivoli. the bus journey was long and hot, even in April. there are also coach tours that go there.

Tivoli is a lovely little town with lots of nice restaurants, which fill up very quickly at lunch-time. we found one up a side-street called the cafe rosa [i think] which was very good. [or rather it found us - we broke our rule about not following people who accost us in the street as all the restaurants in the square were full, and were glad we did!]

good luck!

regards, ann

Thanks everyone for the input. Steve, the websites were helpful. I especially liked the pictures at nimbustier.net.

I think I'm leaning towards Tivoli, but as soon as I see some pictures from Ostia that could change!

clareita - I have been to only Ostia Antica, it was reaaly cool here are some shots from my time there

www.pbase.com/trsw/ostia_antica_2005

Tom

Okay, that's what I thought would happen when I saw some pictures of Ostia. I'm back to the land of indecision. Oh well, I can't go wrong with either one. It's always good to leave something for another trip.

Well, if you have a free morning, it is feasible to make a very cursory run through of Ostia Antica. It is convenient in that it is off the Metro line. But I found Tivoli, esp Villa d'Este to be fantastic. Plus, I went to see Hadrian's Villa afterwards so made a full day of it. Villa d'Este is certainly more lively to look at with its gardens and spouting fountains. I am sure it will be lovely in April. If you can manage to squeeze in both locales, that would be great. But if not, then I would choose Tivoli. Buon viaggio!

Ostia Antica is dusty, dry historical ruins, similar to Pompeii.

Villa d'Este is a series of lush gardens and fountains perched along a hillside.

Very different environments. Both great.

clareita,
Take a look at http://www.ostia-antica.org/indexes.htm

Henry