This is the best preserved Roman villa on the island.
The Roman emperor Tiberius was history’s first “tourist” who fell in love with the island of Capri, fleeing the chaos of the teeming city of ancient Rome to find peace and serenity here.
During the first century A.D., he commissioned 12 villas to be built on the island, including Villa Jovis. This was the largest and the most sumptuous villa, covering around 7,000 square meters and dominating the Mount Tiberius promontory and the slope descending to Cesina. The view from the north side encompasses most of the Gulf of Naples, stretching from the island of Ischia to Campanella Point, while the view from the south overlooks Capri.
The villa’s architectural style combines that of Classical villas from the Roman empire with elements of a small fortress.
The center of the villa housed a number of cisterns to collect rainwater, a fundamental design element on this island which has no natural springs, which was used both as drinking water and as a reservoir with which to supply the baths, which were divided into the traditional frigidarium, tepidarium and calidarium.
Unfortunately, the ruins of Villa Jovis were neglected for centuries and many finds have been lost. Some objects from the site are collected in Naples’ Archaeological Museum, and much of the villa’s marble was used to build the church of Santo Stefano. It was only relatively recently in 1932 that the site was taken in hand by researchers and official excavations begun.