Villa Neroniana Antii
About
Nero was born at his family's seaside villa in Antium on 15 December 37 CE and later razed the inherited property to rebuild it on an imperial scale, adding a private theater. The estate had passed down through generations of his family, the Octavii, before Augustus himself used it around 2 BCE. Nero also built an artificial harbor at Antium, remnants of which still shape the modern port of Anzio. The property remained in imperial hands after Nero's fall in 68 CE and stood through the Trajanic reign.
What happened here
A working estate with a comfortable house attached, and the proportions vary with how rich the owner is and how often he visits. The farm side has presses for oil and wine, threshing floors, storage sunk into the ground, stables and quarters for the workforce. The residential side has baths, dining rooms sited for the view, mosaics, and a garden with water in it. A manager runs the place year-round and reports; the owner arrives for the vintage and for the summer. Produce goes to market or to the owner's town house, and the accounts are kept in detail. Some villas are pure retreat with no farm at all, built on a cliff or a lake specifically to be looked at from a boat.
Sources
Roman Maps shows the empire frozen at 11 August 117 CE, the day Trajan died — its moment of greatest territorial extent. Explore the full map →