Palazzo a Mare

Villa di Damecuta

Villa Jovis

Villa di Gradola - Grotta Azzurra (Blue Grotto)

       Villa of Gradola lies immediately above Grotta Azzurra. Following the typical plan of Roman villae maritimae, the buildings are strung out across the villa’s terraces in a panoramic position along the slope.
      Excavated in the 19th century by American Colonel MacKowen - who found capitals, fragments of statues, columns, flooring and marble picture frames walled into Casa Rossa on Anacapri - the villa was frequently reconstructed in ancient times. Several reservoirs can still be found among the thick vegetation, while, six small build-ings still exist on the upper terrace - one of which still shows traces of yellow plaster on a red pedestal and white mosaic flooring.
      Villa di Gradola was joined to Grotta Azzurra via a stairway cut out of the rock (restored in modern times). Apart from this stairway, the only means of accessing Grotta Azzurra was - and still is - by boat. The narrow opening - whose sur-face was probably smoothed in Roman times to facilitate passing - separates the entrance from the large cavern famous for the effects caused by light. Inside the grotto, a sloping slipway led to a small landing stage next to which there was a quadrangular room with cocciopesto flooring which was probably used as a resting place. A shaft in the rock - considered to be a secret passage between Grotta Azzurra and Villa di Damecuta - was probably designed to catch water.
      Use of the grotto in Roman times as a luxuriously decorated nymphaeum was recently confirmed with the discovery of various statues depicting Tritons and the god Poseidon. Cut off at knee height, the statues were originally positioned at water level along the walls in such a way as to give the impression that were emerging out of the sea.