Francesco di Giorgio Martini was one of the first to visit and study
Villa Adriana around 1465, fifteen years after its rediscovery by Blondus
Flavius, and a few years after the publication in 1461 of the Commentarii of
Pope Pius II Piccolomini, who described its ruins making them renowned worldwide.
Like other artists of that time, Francesco di Giorgio
Martini was a multifaceted talent, at the same time an artist, architect and
antiquarian: he designed fortresses and castles, villas and palaces, but also
helmets and trophies, railings and even centrepieces for parties. He was
one of the fathers of Italian design.
Francesco di Giorgio Martini has left two different sets of drawings
of buildings of the Villa, which have been identified thanks to his own
annotations: “Tibolj vecchio.” Together with Fra’ Giocondo’s drawings,
they are the oldest graphic documentation of the Tiburtine dwelling that
has reached us.