Palatium

About

Augustus built this seaside palace on Capri's north shore after reputedly trading the larger island of Ischia to Naples for Capri around 29 BCE. Tiberius later enlarged it, and 20th-century excavations uncovered its scale along the harbor now called Marina Grande. Ancient writers called it simply the Palatium, "the palace by the sea." It remained imperial property through the Julio-Claudian, Flavian, and Nervan-Trajanic dynasties into 117 CE.

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

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palazzo_a_Mare