The Pincio as seen today was laid out in 1809-14 by Giuseppe Valadier; the French Academy at Rome had moved into the Villa Medici in 1802. The orchards of the Pincian were laid out with wide gravelled allées ("viali") that are struck through dense "boschi" to unite some pre-existing features: one "viale" extends a garden axis of the Villa Medici to the obelisk ("illustration, left") placed at the center of radiating "viali". The obelisk was erected in September 1822 to provide an eye-catcher in the vistas; it is a Roman obelisk, not an Egyptian one, erected under the Emperor Hadrian in the early 2nd century, as part of a memorial to his beloved Antinous outside the Porta Maggiore. The "Piazza Napoleone"— in fact Napoleon's grand urbanistic example was set from a distance, as he never visited Rome— is a grand open space that looks out over Piazza del Popolo, also laid out by Valadier, and provides views to the west, and of the skyline of Rome beyond. Valadier linked the two spaces with formal staircases broken by generous landings, ("illustration") and a switchback carriageway.