Hadrian's Villa () is a UNESCO World Heritage Site comprising the ruins and archaeological remains of a large villa complex built c. AD 120 by Roman Emperor Hadrian at Tivoli outside Rome. The site is owned by the Republic of Italy and has been managed since 2014 by the Polo Museale del Lazio. History The villa was constructed near Tibur (modern-day Tivoli) as a retreat from Rome for Emperor Hadrian during the second and third decades of the 2nd century AD. Hadrian is said to have disliked the palace on the Palatine Hill in Rome, leading to the construction of the retreat. It was traditional for the Roman emperor to have constructed a villa as a place to relax from everyday life. Previous emperors and Romans with wealth, such as Trajan, had also constructed villas. Though emperors’ villas were supposed to be a place of rest and leisure, there is some evidence of Hadrian conducting official duty from the villa in the form of an inscription of an official letter sent from the villa in the summer of 125 AD. The picturesque landscape around Tibur had made the area a popular choice for villas and rural retreats. It was reputed to have been popular with people from the Spanish peninsula who were residents in the city of Rome. This may have contributed to Hadrian's choice of the property: although born in Rome, his parents came from Spain and he may have become familiar with the area during his early life. There may have also been a connection through his wife Vibia Sabina (83–136/137), who was the niece of the Emperor Trajan. Sabina's family held large land holdings and it is speculated the Tibur property may have been one of them. A villa from the Republican era formed the basis for Hadrian's establishment.. Hadrian begun construction on the villa early into his career as emperor, though brick stamp evidence shows us that construction of the villa was ongoing. During the later years of his reign, Hadrian governed the empire from the villa. He started using the villa as his official residence around AD 128. Therefore, a large court lived there permanently and large numbers of visitors and bureaucrats would have to have been entertained and housed temporarily on site. After Hadrian, the villa was used occasionally by his various successors (busts of Antoninus Pius (138–161), Marcus Aurelius (161–180), Lucius Verus (161–169),