The complex stratigraphic relationships between the Roman structures and those of the eighteenth century have never been studied and surveyed in detail.
Function and meaning
The Fede Nymphaeum had opus sectile floor (some fragments are restored in situ) so it belonged to the noble quarters of Villa, where the Emperor and his Court lived.
During an excavation of 1958, a statue of Aphrodite of Cnidus was discovered, and the Temple was restored and partly rebuilt.
Therefore the building was a temple dedicated to the goddess Venus, inspired by that of Knidos.
Goddess Venus was the patron of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, and the Temple recalls the divine origin of the imperial family, recalling the close ideological relationship between Augustus and Hadrian.
Adriano in fact considered himself as the ideal successor of Augustus, because as him he had put an end to wars, consolidated the empire and started a vast program of construction of public buildings, bringing Rome back to its ancient splendor.
Recently, this interpretation has been criticized by Ortolani and Ensoli see Bibliography), who see an analogy between the semicircle of the Fede Nymphaeum and that of the so-called Serapeum in the Canopus.
They believe that it was not a sacred building; in their opinion it had a residential use, the exedras NF4 and NF9 were diaetae, which could serve for banquets or to rest.
In any case, the Temple was a monumental and spectacular entrance on the eastern side of the Villa.
It was decorated with fountains and waterworks, ubiquitous in Hadrians’ Villa, as happens today in the Villa d'Este in Tivoli.