Upon crossing the entrance gate of the “Villa Irlanda Grand Hotel,” one is greeted by the
“Reception,” housed within a restored rural building that was constructed by incorporating the still-visible walls and structures of an ancient Roman villa dating back to the 1st century B.C., once owned by Marcus Philippus, the adoptive father of Emperor Octavian Augustus. Erasmo Gesualdo, an 18th-century historian and researcher, had no doubts about the origins and ownership of the Roman-era remains that now enclose the hotel’s front office and hall. In one of his writings, he describes these locations as follows: “Passing after the Via di Flacco, by the beach of Arcella… Just a few steps away, one encounters the foundations of the said road, on whose bank, to the left, where it is called the Arcella of Andrea del Sole, are the marvelous remains of the famous villa of Marcus Philippus, husband of Atia, daughter of Marcus Atius Balbus, the Praetor, and Julia, sister of Julius Caesar.

When she married Marcus Philippus, she was a widow of Gaius Octavius, with whom she had conceived Octavian Augustus… Hence, it is certain that Marcus Philippus frequented his villa, as can be seen in the letters of Cicero; it seems probable, also due to the climate, that Augustus was raised here rather than near the Pontine Marshes…