In a deep, thickly wooded valley, the River Bosna turns abruptly almost 180 degrees creating a sharp ridge on which this little 15th-century Vranduk castle sits in the midst of a tiny, charmingly coherent village. Vranduk represents one of many medieval Bosnian towns with intensive political, economic and cultural life. The castle is composed of a citadel with the main tower and a protective wall, surrounding the interior of the medieval town.
After taking the city in the 15th century, the Turks built a mosque alongside to the citadel. During Eugene of Savoy’s devastating campaign in 1697, he bypassed the fortress completely as it posed too great an undertaking, leaving it the only fortification left unconquered. Today, Vranduk offers visitors an authentic taste of Bosnian history, in both the museum set up in the great tower, and the traditional Bosnian meals.
The Villa d'Este is a 16th-century villa in Tivoli, near Rome, famous for its terraced hillside Italian Renaissance garden and especially for its profusion of fountains: the extraordinary system contains fifty-one fountains and nymphaeums, 398 spouts, 364 water jets, 64 waterfalls, and 220 basins, fed by 875 meters of canals, channels and cascades, and all working entirely by the force of gravity, without pumps. It is now an Italian state museum, and is listed as a UNESCO world heritage site.
Tivoli had been a popular summer residence since ancient Roman times due to its altitude, cooler temperatures and its proximity to the Villa Hadriana, the summer residence of the Emperor Hadrian I.
The Villa was commissioned by Cardinal Ippolito II d'Este (1509-1572), second son of Alfonso I d'Este, the Duke of Ferrara and grandson of Pope Alexander VI, along with Lucrezia Borgia.