Villa of Livia
in Roma, ItalyCategory: Attraction
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Strada Provinciale 15a, 00188 Roma, Italy Print route »
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The Villa of Livia (Latin: Ad Gallinas Albas) is an ancient Roman villa at Prima Porta, 12 km north of Rome along the Via Flaminia. It was probably part of Livia Drusilla's dowry she brought when she married the emperor Augustus, her second husband, in 39 BC. It was her country residence complementing her house on the Palatine Hill in Rome.Its Latin name, Villa Ad Gallinas Albas, referred to its breed of white chickens, but it was also famous for its laurel grove, which was said by Suetonius to have auspiciously omened origins.
The location was strategically important due to the iron-rich cliffs of red tuff that approach the river at this point, the confluence of several roads and the northern entrance to Rome. The name Prima Porta (First Door) came from an arch of the aqueduct over the Via Flaminia that brought water to the villa and which travellers saw as the first indication of having reached Rome.
The villa occupied the height dominating the view down the Tiber Valley to Rome. Some of the walling that retained its terraces may still be seen.
The Villa was built and modified in four stages, the earliest of Republican date, the latest of the time of Constantine the Great.
