Does anyone know how crowded the Villa, particularly the gardens, will be on a Sunday in August.

I would like to take my grandkids there to mainly see the fountains and am trying to figure out the best day to go. We will be IN Rome Wednesday through Monday, August 17 through August 22. Trying to work out an itinerary for Rome sites including the gardens at the Villa.

TIA
Lydia

we were there on the weekend around May 1st....it was so crowded, we decided not to go in.
Hope you have better luck

Hi Lydia - I'd avoid Villa d'Este on a Sunday in August.

Steve

The main thing, at any time of year, is to make sure the fountains are flowing, otherwise it's disappointing.

We were there on a weekend last July and it was NOT crowded at all.

It was sunny when we got there but then a thunderstorm rolled in and there was torrential down pour for about a half hour. It was quite pretty to watch it from inside the villa, and to hear the thunder combined with the church bells. Anyway, when it stopped, the sun came back out and we went back into the gardens and the fountains had stopped! My Italian is pretty minimal but from what I gathered by conversations between other tourists and the grounds keepers there was too much water!The fountains still run on an old system involving water piped in from the hills and the downpour caused it to shut down. They started back up another half hour or so later.

Here's my photos, including some rain shots -http://www.pbase.com/annforcier/image/127506857