Many and precious are the remains of the rediscovered floors which once supported the walls and which were principally composed of stone bricks pressed and beaten in the ground in the very tenacious “Opus Signinum”. Moreover there are painted plastering of different consistency and colours, in accordance with the above structures. Along with these simple floors there were some others which were more sumptuous, like the ones in the “tablinium”, composed of inlaid marble. A long corridor led to the peristyle and it was possible to reach the gardens across a  few steps and some plain constructions. Several remains of this republican palace were found  (and then destroyed ) as far as the railway line. From Svetonius, we understand that, during  2^nd century A.C., Octavianus Augustus was staying in Antium, when a delegation of the Roman people caught up with him to offer him the title of “Father of the Country”. 

The fact that the Palace  belonged to the Emperor Augustus would then influence the future of the Palace itself, because being part of private imperial property ,it would pass through the hands of each Emperor who would ascend the throne of Rome. During the Neronian period , the republican villa gave way  to a new palace with a completely different architectural structure. The magnificence of the monumental architecture reveals the transformation of the old noble palace, which was already insufficient and inadequate into the new conception of the residence,  worthy of an Emperor,  who was now head of the civilised world and venerated as a god. It could  only be Him, Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus Caesar, animated not only by the usual  unrestrained desire for glory and ostentation, but also by a deep love for the town in which he and his relatives were born. 

The front of this powerful embankment which faced the sea was highly balanced and elegant: some constructions on different levels and a wide arcade hid the structural lump. The great linear embankment delimiting the porch towards the land was interrupted and lightened by a quadrangular esedra which was adorned at the entrance in the central part by some columns  about 14 metres apart one from the other and by two big niches almost 4 metres wide and twice as  high. These two niches, with their basins adorned by the classical motif of the shell, gave hospitality to two statues: the one of the “Fanciulla” was found still standing on its base inside the western niche. A series of constructions and buttresses made by the big niches which penetrated into the high bank of the coast, assured stability to the upper buildings and formed a valid protection to the ones leading down through various levels along the cliff toward the sea. Long corridors, underground passages and staircases led to the upper rooms through the ones built over the sea, on a platform supported by a wooden palisade. A wet dock was built just behind the promontory of Cape Antium to be used by the small imperial boats. In the vast hinterland the Palace was embellished with pavilions, nymphs, baths,  gardens, fountains, balconies and terraces. Inside this sumptuous imperial Palace the architects certainly tried to satisfy every wish and whim of the Emperor and to make his stay in Antium as pleasant as possible. In the new, large, elegant indoor spaces it was possible to stage plays, performances, dances and music intended for the entertainment of the imperial guests and for the crowd  of flatterers that in every season of the year thronged the Palace. During the following period, Domitianus brought to Anzio his taste for magnificence and refinement and Hadrian finished the work the former had started. Walls of bricks and tiles are inserted into the Neronian structures close to the western side of the Palace. The architectural module of the rooms became once again the rectilinear one of the primitive foundation of the Palace. In particular, on the side with pilasters, some bow windows opened directly out a pleasant view over the sea, and also offered  optimum ventilation and lighting. The architectural decoration was integrated with the pictorial one: flowering gardens animated by cheerful fountains, birds in flight among lush trees and others landing daintily on the fountain edges. These refined rooms were probably also populated by many statues placed inside the niches and enriched by vessels and trinkets put into the small rectangular openings. It is believed that it could have been the famous Imperial library that we know from epigraphic sources. Philostratus indeed, as guest of Hadrian in Antium, in one of his works ( Apollonius VIII,20) in addition of celebrating the amenity of the place and the beauty of the Palace, magnifies the bibliographical collections of the library and remembers above all a real rarity: a book with writings of Pythagora. The characteristics of the wide hall do not exclude that it could have been one of the most refined meeting and amusement points of the imperial Palace. Here one could relax, after having  bathed in the calidarium or, more simply, it could have been a place in which to avoid the oppressive summer heat without giving up the fascination and the fragrance of the sea and the heady light of the sun. From the seals in the bricks and tiles and from the construction techniques, we can ascribe to Domitianus all this internal settlement, with the construction of systems to insulate the rooms and to canalize the water. We may attribute to Hadrian the work of embellishment and decoration, in accordance to the taste of his Palace near Tivoli, and a series of pavillions separated from the central body of the Palace, of which some remains are still visible, showing a perfect building technique in Hadrian style, made by a closed curtain of triangular thin bricks well fired and perfectly identical. We know from historical sources that the Palace, under the Severians reign, underwent further important restoration which made some radical changes to the previous architecture. The fashion of that time for huge and solid constructions was present in the imperial Palace of Antium as well. The Neronian esedra was demolished to the foundations, covered by earth and in its place was built a large hall with eight columns in precious cipolin marble, as the base still testifies. The main entrance, through a short wide stairway, led into this new impressive hall, which was divided into three naves  recalling the monumentality of the ancient roman basilicas. The thermae were located just a little more westwards of the library and they were another important and particular architectural example of the Severian period. Of the whole complex, there still remains clearly visible a calidarium, that is the room used for bathing in warm water, whose walls shone with precious marbles in coloured geometrical decorations. Among these marbles, the famous very expensive African one was plentiful. During this last period the Imperial Palace reached its maximum expansion.  


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