Ventotene Island: the best places to stay, things to do, and a bit of island history 🏝️

+ a tasty local seafood recipe to try!

Some island history:

Ventotene was originally the playground of  the Roman Emperors and a place where many in the imperial family were banished. Emperor Augustus was the first to build a summer palace on the island with thermal baths, gardens, and aqueducts. Following his reign the villa remained an imperial property, now known as Villa Giulia (worth a visit). It was perhaps where Augustus banished his daughter Giulia the Elder following her excessive adultery: a place where he could easily keep an eye on her. 

Later on in 29 AD, the villa passed to emperor Tiberius who banished Augustus' granddaughter Agrippina the Elder. After Agrippina the Elder's son Gaius (Caligula), became emperor in 37 AD, he went to Pandateria (the Latin name for Ventotene) to collect her remains and brought them back to Rome. Agrippina the Elder's youngest daughter, Giulia Livilla, was exiled to Pandateria twice: the first time by her brother Caligula for plotting to depose him, and the second time by her uncle, the emperor Claudius, at the instigation of his wife, Messalina, in 41 AD.