The remains of a monumental villa of the late Republican era, located on a promontory in the vicinity of Garigliano, have been known for some time. On the basis of toponomical persistence it is possible to identify the owner of the villa in Mamurra, praefectus fabrum, under Caesar in Spain and in Gaul. The structures of the villa are arranged scenographically in terraces descending toward to the seashore, where there is located as well a balneum and installations for the breeding of fish.
The villa was built during the first century BC and remained in use, with diverse phases of renovation, until the first centuries of the empire when it was definitively abandoned, perhaps suddenly.
An urgent intervention was conducted on the so-called Grotta della Janara, a structure derived from the rocky bank with purely scenographic function, not far from the cistern called the “36 columns” which served the villa of Gianola. A flight of stairs covered with a barrel vault has been recovered from this structure. (Nicoletta Cassieri)