VILLA D'ESTE

estate in Tivoli near Rome with buildings, fountains, and terraced gardens designed (1550) by the Mannerist architect Pirro Ligorio for the governor Cardinal Ippolito II d'Este. Before being confiscated as his residence, the property had been a Benedictine convent. Franz Liszt occupied the top floor from 1865 until his death in 1886. Today the villa itself is less noteworthy than the spacious park and the magnificent fountains, which are supplied with water by two canals dug especially for the purpose.