The investigations in 2001 involved two sectors of the front part of the promontory of Punta Eolo, one close to the island’s cemetery, the other near the so-called “Polveriera”, between the Roman fish pool and the Bourbon tower. The Punta Eolo excavation regarded a series of walls belonging to a building in opus reticulatum, probably of the same date as the rest of the Punta Eolo villa, commonly known as villa Julia from the name of the first person to be exiled there. The villa extends over the entire length of the promontory and the opus reticulatum building technique and the tile built structures date its original lay out to the Augustan period. The building investigated has been interpreted as a service building connected to the “aristocratic” parts of the villa itself. It had a series of square rooms around an open courtyard which seemed to form a sort of central spine. The rooms had white plastered walls and opus signinum floors. In some rooms falls of plaster were found directly on the floor surface: the trellis technique confirms that they were part of a ceiling. In the north-western part a cistern in opus mixtum emerged, covered by a partly collapsed barrel vault, which probably related to water supply system for the sector of the villa situated on Punta Eolo. The entire area seemed to have been restructured sometime after the 1st century A.D.. This is attested not only by the blocking of the central courtyard with a mixture of materials, but also by various structures identified as small kitchens that were found in several rooms. The excavations in the locality of the “Polveriera” regarded structures relating to a sector of the Imperial villa that were cut into the tufa bedrock to form terraces stepping down towards the sea as far as the fish pool. Cleaning back revealed a wall on an east-west alignment dividing the area into two parts, denominated Terraza nord and Terrazza sud. West of Terrazza nord was a well and patches of in situ ancient opus signinum were hidden beneath the recently restored well-curb. Excavation of the Terrazza nord brought to light walls of Roman and post-antique date, built above a system of coffers which were part of the terrace construction. In the Terrazzo sud two enormous ditches were identified as Bourbon gun emplacements, as confirmed by several maps of the period. The lower part of the complex, next to the modern lighthouse, revealed curving structures identified as a nymphaeum or hanging garden, laid out along the slopes of the hill according to the architectural canons of the period. (MiBAC)