The ruins of Nero's vast seaside villa stretch along the coast just west of the Anzio harbour. The emperor was born in Anzio in 37 AD, and the villa he built here was enormous — ancient sources describe terraces, fishponds, and gardens extending along the clifftops above the sea. It is from these ruins that the Apollo Belvedere and the Borghese Gladiator were excavated in the 16th and 17th centuries; both now sit in major museum collections far from their origins.
What remains today is a romantic ruin of brick-faced concrete walls, vaulted passages, and fragments of mosaic floor. The Capo d'Anzio lighthouse stands at the edge of the site, its modern presence oddly appropriate on cliffs that have been inhabited since antiquity. Access is free and the setting — crumbling Roman walls above the Tyrrhenian Sea — is hard to beat.
story: "The Apollo Belvedere, one of the most celebrated sculptures in the Western tradition and a defining image of Renaissance idealism, was dug out of these overgrown ruins in the 15th century. For two centuries it was considered the finest ancient statue in existence. It now stands in the Vatican Museums."