Hadrian's Villa and Its Legacy

Rating:
Summary: About timeless beauty
Review: First of all, it is a beautiful book. For anyone who already has visited the Villa, just the cover is truly moving, with the line of trees next the palestra, as moving is the Piranesi graffiti photo. The reader must also understand the book is about a ruin and accept some degree of frustration with descriptions and the current outlook of monuments, but MacDonald and Pinto are very sucessful in freeing our imagination to wander among the profound design and intentions of Hadria's Villa. A collection of monuments that is too the empire, the memories of a life and a message to the future. Even the authors seemed amazed, for instance, by the Maritime Theater plan or the use of landscape. It is a book to be read again and again.

Rating:
Summary: The ancient Romans created a provocative architecture.
Review: MacDonald/Pinto assert that Hadrian forged a new and innovative architectural system which integrated buildings with nature and human use. Hadrian's goal was to create an arrangement of buildings which were functional and yet challenged the intellect to contemplate the unseen world. They also make a very strong case for the pervasive influence which this complex villa has had on archtecture from ancient times to the present. This book makes one realize that Roman architecture is indeed relevant to the present.

Rating:
Summary: The ancient Romans created a provocative architecture.
Review: MacDonald/Pinto assert that Hadrian forged a new and innovative architectural system which integrated buildings with nature and human use. Hadrian's goal was to create an arrangement of buildings which were functional and yet challenged the intellect to contemplate the unseen world. They also make a very strong case for the pervasive influence which this complex villa has had on archtecture from ancient times to the present. This book makes one realize that Roman architecture is indeed relevant to the present.