JOVIS VILLA

Located 2 km from the Piazzetta and easily accessible on foot. Having fallen in love with the island of Capri, the emperor Tiberius (42 BC to 37 AD) is said to have built twelve villas named after the twelve gods of Olympus. Excavations have identified two of them: the villa of Damecuta in Anacapri and the villa Jovis (of Jupiter) which was also his favourite and where he spent the last years of his life in voluntary "exile". A veritable eagle's nest, the building rises on a steep hill ending in a vertiginous 300 m drop. The site has been ransacked several times and was the subject of methodical archaeological excavations in the 1930s, which brought to light a gigantic cistern of 900^m2 supplying the villa and its thermal baths with water. Just beyond the entrance to the site, the famous "Tiberius Leap" is a belvedere overlooking the sea from which, according to a popular legend, Tiberius threw his enemies into the void. The palace has, in addition to the imperial apartments, baths and outbuildings. See in particular the loggia 92 meters long and open on the gardens. One can imagine Tiberius walking in this gallery-belvedere, facing the sea, admiring the panorama. At its end, the splendid view opens onto the whole island. At the other end was an observatory from which Tiberius contemplated the sky with his astrologer to deduce the destinies of Rome. The highest point of the site is occupied by the small chapel of Santa Maria del Soccorso and a bronze statue of the Virgin.