Villa of Lucullus

A lavish 1st-century BC Roman villa built by general Lucius Licinius Lucullus on the island of Megaride and Mount Echia in Naples. The complex featured thermal baths, private harbors, fish-breeding pools, and gardens with exotic plants imported from the East. After Lucullus's death around 56 BC, the villa passed to imperial ownership and was later transformed into a fortress (castellum Lucullanum) under Valentinian III, becoming the place of exile of Romulus Augustulus, the last Western Roman Emperor. Roman columns survive in the cellars of Castel dell'Ovo.