After the Second Punic War (218 to 201 BC) in which Hannibal had left a trail of devastation across Italy, the rich bought up both public land and the small farms of the poor.

As part of land redistribution, a group of great villas were assembled in the area, run by slave labour like the latifundia estates typical of southern Italy.

[7] The villa still prospered in the age of the Antonines until about 175 after which the land probably ended up in the imperial estate and the buildings underwent a slow, progressive decline.

The villa was renovated in the 1970s as a luxury holiday property with the ruins open to the public and picturesquely incorporated in the garden plan.

An unusual feature visible today is the lower terrace wall with narrow towers as in a fortification, a local speciality common to other nearby villas such as at "Le Colonne".