The constructive technique used is substantially the opus mixtum (pyramidal small blocks of tufo and bands of bricks) and, sometimes, only tiles. The Villa is articulated in a series of complexes, generally oriented from North-West to South-East, with a prevailing South-Western exposure, the most opportune in order to guarantee to a winter residence the greatest number of hours of sun. The buildings follow the course of the land, according to the main alignments connected between them by secondary axis. The functions of the greater number of the complexes are not univocally determinable: there are numerous and sumptuous rooms that could be used for representation, sojourn or other.

The Maritime Theatre

The heart of the Villa seems to be the area that has like border at North the Libraries, at South the Small Baths, at East the Public square of gold, at West the Maritime Theatre and the Pecile.
Here the wealth of the decorations seems to indicate an imperial presence constant. The remaining complexes were occasionally used by the emperor and his court; a lot of other persons lived inside the complex (and had own spaces, clearly defined): the guard, the staff of the imperial bureaucracy, all the servile personal.

The several parts of the villa were connected by a true system of underground ways, some of them suitable for vehicles, others pedestrian, that functioned in an independent way, not obstructing the superior level, official and of representation level, becouse the life of who sojourned there did not have to be troubled, if not for indispensable reasons, from the daily activities to take totally pleasure in the pleasant and calm place that Hadrian chose as residence, protected from the noises of the city and plunged in the green; the tranquillity that you could find here was total, in fact the emperor loved to study here and to talk with his trusts.