If there is one thread running through two thousand years of Campania's history, it is the desire to build a house with a view of the gulf. We followed this thread from the villas of the Roman emperors to those of the Bourbon kings and English travellers, and the result is an itinerary that takes in Naples, Vesuvius, Capri and the Amalfi Coast. Here are the villas we think you should not miss, with links to our in-depth articles.
The Roman villas: otium on the gulf
For wealthy Romans, Campania was the place of otium, leisure time devoted to rest and culture. Along the coasts rose seaside villas with gardens, private baths and frescoes, many of which were preserved by the eruption of AD 79 or rediscovered over the last two centuries.
- Oplontis, at Torre Annunziata: the great Villa of Poppaea, built around the middle of the 1st century BC, a UNESCO site since 1997. We describe it in The Excavations of Oplontis.
- Villa Jovis, on Capri: the palace of Tiberius on the summit of Monte Tiberio, from which the emperor governed the Empire for more than ten years. You will find everything in Villa Jovis and Villa Damecuta.
- Minori, at Minori: a 1st-century AD villa by the sea on the Amalfi Coast, with its porticoed garden and triclinium-nymphaeum, described in our article on the Roman villa of Minori.
- Pausilypon, at Posillipo: the villa of Publius Vedius Pollio, from the 1st century BC, which later became imperial property. You reach it through the Grotta di Seiano, a Roman tunnel dug through the tuff, and discover a theatre and an odeion overlooking the sea.
The Pausilypon is one of the places that moved us most: its Greek name means roughly "the place that brings respite from pain", and looking out over the bay of Trentaremi from the steps of the theatre you understand why. Below the headland stretches the Gaiola marine area, which we talk about in Marechiaro and the Gaiola Underwater Park.
Finally, don't forget the villas of Stabiae at Castellammare di Stabia, such as Villa Arianna and Villa San Marco, and the residences now under water described in The Archaeological Park of Baia.
The Vesuvian villas of the Golden Mile
Let's jump forward many centuries. In 1738 Charles of Bourbon decided to build the Royal Palace of Portici, and the Neapolitan nobility followed him: along the road to Calabria dozens of country villas sprang up, now known as the Vesuvian villas. The Ente per le Ville Vesuviane has listed 122 of them.
Among the most beautiful are Villa Campolieto in Herculaneum (Ercolano), completed with the contribution of Luigi Vanvitelli and his son Carlo, with its elliptical portico facing the sea, and Villa Favorita, designed by Ferdinando Fuga. We take you villa by villa in The Golden Mile: the luxury and elegance of the eighteenth-century villas.
The nineteenth-century villas of Naples
In the city the two most fascinating villas have both been turned into museums.
Villa Pignatelli, on the Riviera di Chiaia, was built in 1826 for Ferdinand Acton to a neoclassical design by Pietro Valente. It then passed to the Rothschilds and finally to the Pignatelli family, who left it to the State in 1952. Today it is a house museum with its original furnishings, a garden and a carriage museum.
Villa Floridiana, on the Vomero, was built between 1817 and 1819 by Antonio Niccolini at the behest of Ferdinand I, who gave it to his wife Lucia Migliaccio, Duchess of Floridia. Since 1931 it has housed the Duca di Martina National Ceramics Museum, and its park is one of the city's green lungs, with a panoramic terrace over the gulf.
The villas of Ravello
On the Amalfi Coast, in Ravello, there are two villas, and they could not be more different. Villa Rufolo was born in the 13th century as the home of a family of wealthy merchants, was restored in the nineteenth century by the Scotsman Francis Nevile Reid and in 1880 inspired Richard Wagner's garden of Klingsor in Parsifal. Villa Cimbrone owes its present appearance to the Englishman Ernest William Beckett, who bought it in 1904, and to its Terrace of Infinity suspended over the sea.
We describe both in Villa Rufolo and Villa Cimbrone. If you love gardens, read also our article on the most beautiful gardens to discover in Campania.
How to plan your trip
The villas lend themselves to an itinerary in stages. Two days are enough for Naples and the Golden Mile, which can be reached on the Vesuvian railway; for Capri and Ravello you need another two days, with hydrofoils from Naples and buses along the Amalfi Coast. The best months are April, May and September, when the gardens are at their best. Many villas have variable opening times or ongoing works: check opening hours and tickets on the official website before you go.
Nearby
To fit the villas into a wider trip, start from our guide Naples and its surroundings and, for the Amalfi Coast, from Salerno and its surroundings. The Golden Mile goes well with Herculaneum and Pompeii: what to see, while on Capri it is worth adding The Blue Grotto. For another royal residence, head to The Capodimonte Museum and Royal Park.
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