In Sperlonga, in one of the most scenic points of the coast of Lazio, the Emperor Tiberius had built his villa. It was a huge villa. The cave of Tiberius is the most spectacular part of the Roman villa of Sperlonga. The huge natural ravine was preceded by a large rectangular seawater fishpond with an artificial island in the middle that was the summer caenatio, the place where Tiberius and his court ate in the summer.
The cave was decorated with marble statues of enormous artistic value dedicated to the saga of Ulysses and sculpted by Greek artists. The bottom of the cave was decorated with frescoes and masonry works that divided the environment into rooms and alcoves.
The cave can be accessed by visiting the Archaeological Museum of the Villa of Tiberius. In the small room on the right there is a nymphaeum that at the time of Tiberius was animated by water games. In the room on the left was the alcove, still furnished with a masonry triclinium.
Above the external opening of the cave there was a statue of a beautiful Ganymede kidnapped by the eagle of Zeus. The fishpond communicates with the circular pool in the centre of the cave where the sculptural group of the assault on the monster of Scylla stood out in a scenic position.
