Cardinal Ippolito II d'Este became governor of Tivoli on December 3, 1549, and commissioned the villa. Construction began in July 1560, and his apartments were done in 1572, the year he died. Pirro Ligorio planned the villa and garden, Alberto Galvani directed the villa's plans, and Tommaso Chiruchi assisted as hydraulic engineer. The article calls the garden Italian Renaissance, on a terraced hillside dropping more than 148 feet (45 m).
The Aniene river was diverted, and the whole system works by gravity alone, without pumps. The article reports 51 fountains and nymphaeums, 398 spouts, 64 waterfalls and 220 basins. Ligorio obtained marble and statuary from the ruins of Hadrian's Villa. Bernini added two fountains in 1660 and 1661.
Franz Liszt visited between 1865 and 1885 and wrote three piano pieces about the grounds. The Italian State acquired the villa after World War I and began restoration in 1922. UNESCO listed it in 2001.
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