Touted as a spectacle to rival Versailles, the estate of the Villa d'Este in the town of Tivoli (about 25 miles northwest of Rome) serves as backdrop for 50 fountains, 100 basins and 60 reflecting pools. All of this water is accentuated by waterfalls, lilies, rhododendrons and other floral displays and was all designed as a sort of paradise on earth by 16th-century architect Pirro Ligorio for Cardinal Ippolito d'Este.
But every earthly paradise has flaws, even a paradise owned by a cardinal, and Villa d'Este has been no exception. Even in Renaissance times, the water of the Anio River (which fed the pools and fountains) was "hard," and there was no filtration or purification system to counter its effects on the villa's waterworks. When the Italian government took over the estate in 1918, the property, and especially its fountain sculptures, was badly in need of restoration.