Villa of Domitian

The Villa of Domitian, known as Albanum Domitiani or Albanum Caesari in Latin, was a vast and sumptuous Roman villa or palace built by Emperor Titus Flavius Domitian (81 - 96 AD). It was situated 20 km outside Rome, in the Alban Hills, in the ancient Ager Albanus (from the legendary Latin city of Alba Longa).

Today the remains of the villa are located mostly within the estate of the Pontifical Villas of Castel Gandolfo, and the rest in the towns of Castel Gandolfo and Albano Laziale. The Villa Barberini gardens are open to visitors.

The legendary capital of the Latin League, Alba Longa, was believed to have been founded by the son of Aeneas, Ascanio, around the ancient volcanic crater filled by Lake Albano. But there is no agreement among scholars about the exact location of the ancient city and no archaeological traces.

Alba Longa was completely destroyed in the 6th c. BC, and Latium vetus annexed to Rome. With progressive Roman expansion, the Alban Hills became home to numerous patrician suburban villas. In particular the remains of two large villas on the Via Appia Antica, one attributed to Publius Clodius Pulcher and the other to Pompey have been found. In addition various Republican-era villas nestled on the banks of the lake and beyond. All these properties eventually became, in one way or another, imperial property: by the time of Augustus, the extraordinary concentration of villas gave birth to the term Albanum Caesari.

The first imperial villa estate was inhabited by Tiberius, then Caligula and Nero.

The first emperors probably contented themselves to live in the most sumptuous existing villas, namely that of Clodius in Herculanum (today in the garden of the Villa Santa Caterina of the Pontifical North American College) and that of Pompeo Albano (now in the municipal public park of Villa Doria).

Domitian, who settled there on a permanent basis, decided to build a new main complex to the villa in the most panoramic position towards both the sea and the lake, and featuring lavish new structures such as a racecourse and theatre. Probably the project was entrusted to Rabirius, architect of the Palace of Domitian on the Palatine.

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