The coincidence in 2014 of the holding of the Presidency of the Council of the European Union by Greece and Italy, respectively in the first and second halves of the year, was the spur to this long-desired exhibition about the relationship between Hadrian and Greece, considered from the particular perspective offered by Hadrian's Villa.
The purpose of the exhibition is to explore how the Villa in Tivoli reflects Greece in the way Hadrian perceived and knew it, pursuing the multifaceted game of mirrors between features of Greece and their reinterpretation by Hadrian in his residence. Hadrian’s Villa, in fact, is the most eloquent manifestation of Hadrian’s propaganda, and it therefore stands out, even being unique, as a perfect laboratory: in its spaces, contexts and works of art we can recover the presence of typical greek elements, used by the emperor to structure his politic. The exhibition aims to give an account of this route, through the privileged observatory represented by the Villa and by loans of works of art from Greek museums, composing a unitary picture structured on Hadrian’s will.