TRAVELING IN STYLE : THE EMPEROR’S LAST RESORT : When the Cruel Roman Ruler Tiberius Got Away From It All, He Headed to the Fabled Island of Capri and the Fishing Village of Sperlonga

IT’S NOT MY FAULT, THE ROMAN EMPEROR TIBERIUS (42 BC-37 AD) must have said to himself when he began to commit some of his more spectacular atrocities toward the end of his reign. It’s hard to grow up the son of a ruthless, ambitious mother, Livia, and stepson of a celebrated tyrant, the one and only Augustus. What’s a poor heir to do, if driven nearly mad by their schemes and maneuverings?

Tiberius Claudius Nero Caesar, to give his full name, tried to get away from them. At the age of 36, he fled to the Greek island of Rhodes, where he lived for seven years and cultivated his artistic side. He had been a brilliant soldier and fought a number of successful campaigns to enlarge and consolidate Rome’s growing empire, but what he really wanted to do was hang around with poets, artists and philosophers.

When Augustus summoned him back to Rome in 4 AD, though, and named him his official heir, Tiberius had no choice but to obey, and in 14 AD, upon Augustus’ death, he became the empire’s second autocratic ruler. Livia--who, it was rumored, had poisoned most of her son’s rivals and perhaps even his stepfather--was delighted. Not so Tiberius. He spent most of the early years of his reign trying to persuade a reluctant Senate to reassume its legislative powers and restore some semblance of the vanished Republic. No one was up to the task, so Tiberius, forced to become a despot, became increasingly morose and embittered--the misanthropic figure of popular history.

He fled south toward the island of Capri, in the Bay of Naples, where he spent most of the last 10 years of his life, indulging himself in the lubricious pursuits and cruelties recorded by ancient historians.

Tiberius wasn’t the first Roman to head south toward Capri for refuge, but he did it more often than anybody else. The Romans were great road builders, of course, and by the beginning of Tiberius’ reign had established a number of places along the coast toward Naples for rich patrician families and retired soldiers to vacation. The main artery south was the Via Appia, which wound through the Alban Hills toward the coast to Terracina, an ancient Spartan and Etruscan city that was then an important port.

Today, Terracina is an agricultural and fishing center of about 40,000 people--bustling, but with a characteristically laid-back southern atmosphere. The side streets off the main avenues are tight and shadowed; the houses all have small, railed balconies and tall, shuttered windows behind which the inhabitants take refuge from the midday heat in summer. The harbor itself, with its rows of brightly colored fishing boats of all shapes and sizes, never seems frantically busy--and in summer, along the esplanade behind the public beaches, strollers walk arm in arm past hordes of sunbathers and swimmers. Much remains today to remind visitors of the town’s classical and medieval past, including its most impressive relic, the Temple of Jupiter Anxur on the crest of rocky Mount St. Angelo, a summit that provides spectacular views over city and sea.

FROM TERRACINA, THE VIA APPIA THRUSTS INLAND TOWARD FONDI AND ITRI, bypassing the coast until it links up with it again at Formia, about 24 miles to the south. In Tiberius’ time, there was a main artery along the sea named the Via Flacca (after the Roman official Lucius Valerius Flaccus, who built it in 184 BC). Traces of this road are still visible. It was about 12 feet wide and skirted the coastline past the ancient fishing village of Sperlonga and around the slopes of the Aurunci Mountains that here descend to the Mediterranean. Tiberius himself, of course, never had to do much walking. He traveled by trireme along the coast, while the accompanying legions and supply wagons marched overland.

Sperlonga marked the halfway point between Rome and the Bay of Naples. It was also home territory for Tiberius. His family on his mother’s side were large landowners, and they owned villas in the area. The main one, where Tiberius always spent some time, was by the beach to the south, below the village. His visits were looked forward to both by the locals, because of the prosperity they brought to the area, and his soldiers, who were fond of the local white wine.

After the fall of the Roman Empire, for more than 1,000 years, this strip of coastal land around Sperlonga was almost entirely cut off from the rest of the country. It could only be approached from the sea or by a narrow road, little more than a footpath, from Fondi.

The rediscovery of the region began during the building of a new highway along the coast in 1958. Property prices soon began to soar. Outsiders were charmed by the sight of Sperlonga--then little more than a cluster of stone houses, stained an off-white by centuries of wind, sun and rain, perched on a rock thrust out into the sea above an unspoiled shoreline. Today, Sperlonga has become a major tourist resort, with villas, hotels and pensioni sprawled along the beach. Newcomers, many of them from Rome,

have snapped up and remodeled dwellings in the old town itself and to the south, where the area is protected from exploitation by Rome’s Department of Antiquities.

IN THE SUMMER MONTHS, WHEN ALL OF EUROPE SEEMS TO EMPTY ITSELF out onto one piece of seashore or another, the beach here all but vanishes under long parallel rows of colored umbrellas and tanned bodies. Nevertheless, the aura of old Sperlonga, with its sense of a living past, remains strong.

This is largely because of the discoveries made below the town during the construction of the road. The engineer in charge was a devoted amateur archeologist named Erno Bellante, who took it upon himself to begin digging unofficially in and around a large cave at the southern end of the mile-long beach. The cave was known as the Grotto of Tiberius, and a late 19th-Century print shows people walking about in the cave, with Sperlonga visible in the background. Bellante knew that earlier archeological discoveries had been made in the area--a bearded stone head of Dionysius, for one--and he suspected that the grotto would quickly yield more treasures.

He was right. Among his early finds were the thigh, leg and foot of a gigantic statue, a beautiful stone head and about 500 other pieces, as well as a section of a pool that had once been in the cave. Since then, more than 15,000 relics have been uncovered--and the digging continues.

The ruins of the villa where Tiberius used to stay can be visited, and a small museum has been built on the scene to display the archeological finds. Among these are groups of statues, partially restored, depicting mythical events from the life of Ulysses--including the blinding of the giant Polyphemus; splendid heads of women and gods; Roman copies of ancient Greek statues and some rare Greek ceramics. A wing of the museum contains smaller artifacts, such as plates, vases, ornaments, oil lamps, animal sculptures and, most significantly, the skeletal head of a crocodile. The latter would seem to confirm the report by several historians that the emperor was not above tossing unfortunates to the beasts.

As Sperlonga began to flourish in the 1960s, after centuries of poverty, the entire area known as the South Pontine, from Sabaudia in the north to Minturno in the south, became an increasingly important resort area. Even in winter tourists will show up, guidebooks in hand, for a look at the region’s better known attractions.

At Sabaudia, it’s a series of four coastal lakes at the edge of a national park that also includes the ruins of an ancient Roman villa. At San Felice Circeo, a resort where wealthy Roman families have owned villas for 2,000 years, there are dozens of caves along the rocky shoreline, one of them named after Circe, the mythical enchantress who is supposed to have lived in the area. At Gaeta, the main lure is a long, picturesque waterfront and a harbor full of fishing boats, freighters and warships. Formia, right next door, is a busy commercial hub, badly bombed during World War II, but still containing notable Roman ruins, including the tomb of Cicero. Minturno features some splendid Roman remains, including an amphitheater built by Augustus.

But it is Sperlonga that attracts the most visitors. They stroll along the maze of narrow streets and alleys, impassable to cars, or linger in the main piazza to gape at its ancient facades or stare out over the endless blue sea. The best days are in September and October, when the summer crowds are gone, the beaches are mostly empty and the water is still warm enough to swim in. My own fondest memories of the place, where my mother owned an exquisite little house for nearly 40 years, are of sitting on her terrace overlooking the coastline, or in the town piazza socializing with friends, sipping caffe latte or the still-delicious local wine. Then, too, there were the lazy hours on the beach, where we munched on fresh mozzarella di bufala and vine-ripened tomatoes in between dips. This was truly a way of life fit for an emperor.

TIBERIUS’ FAVORITE SPOT, HOWEVER, REMAINED THE ISLE OF CAPRI, TO which he would sail directly from Sperlonga. His stepfather, Augustus, had been fond of the place, too, and spent time there--but Tiberius moved in permanently. Between the two of them, the emperors built themselves a dozen sumptuous residences on the small island, though the remains of only three survive. The best preserved is the Villa Jovis at the very tip of the eastern end, high above the town. It can be reached by a road that meanders up among olive groves, vineyards and whitewashed houses, with breath-taking views in all directions. Just past the entrance gate, with its cylindrical guard tower, is the Salto di Tiberio, or Tiberius’ Leap, a vantage point at the edge of a cliff from which the emperor would arrange to have the people who displeased him hurled to their deaths on the rocks below.

The villa itself, built around four huge cisterns to catch and store rainwater, sprawls over 20,000 square feet, but must have been much larger in imperial times. It was a perfect refuge for a corrupt, misanthropic old man suspicious and fearful of everyone and addicted to the perverse pleasures of the flesh.

Capri, in fact, has always had a reputation for naughty goings-on. In 1917, the English writer Norman Douglas wrote “South Wind,” a popular novel based on the local cavortings of the expatriates who had, like Tiberius, taken refuge there to indulge their eccentricities. A decade later, a Swedish doctor named Axel Munthe wrote “The Story of San Michele,” named for his residence at Anacapri, on the western side of the island, recounting many odd and often lurid tales of the island’s past and present. The social center of the island is the Piazza Umberto, where friends meet in the morning to sip espresso at the open-air cafes and plan the day’s activities. The beaches are pebbly, but the swimming everywhere is superb, and various secluded spots can be easily reached by boat. By midafternoon the night’s activities have been set, and when evening comes, excursions are made in groups to favorite restaurants and nightclubs, where the dancing goes on till dawn.

For those who prefer a quieter time, the island provides spectacular natural sites, especially its famous shoreline caves, named mostly for the colors of the water in them. The Grotta Azzurra, or Blue Grotto, is justly celebrated. It’s well over 100 yards long, 30 yards high and 15 yards wide, illuminated from an underwater passage below so that the walls reflect in daylight the azure tints of the sea. The best months to visit such wonders (or to visit the island at all) are spring and fall, when the masses of summer vacationers are absent.

AT THE END OF HIS LIFE, Tiberius made one last attempt to see Rome. He traveled as far as the walls of the capital, but then refused at the last moment to enter the city and--ignoring his doctor’s orders--started back to Capri. Along the way, he stopped at various places along the coast, but was prevented by high seas from reaching the island itself. He settled instead into a villa at San Felice Circeo that had belonged to Lucullus, a noted patrician bon vivant who gave tremendous parties.

Tiberius wouldn’t admit that he was sick, but he was clearly dying. Apparently, he wasn’t doing so quite fast enough for his successor, Caligula, who reportedly helped him on his way either by smothering him in his bed or by cutting off his food and drink. When at last Tiberius expired, the imperial ring, with the seal he used to sign his terrible decrees, had to be forced from his grasp.

GUIDEBOOK: After Tiberius

Telephone numbers and prices: The country code for Italy is 39. Local area codes are given below. (When dialing local area codes from within Italy, dial 0 first.) All prices are approximate and computed at the rate of 1,550 lire to the dollar. Hotel prices are for a double room for one night. Restaurant prices are for dinner for two, food only (unless otherwise indicated).

Getting there: The nearest international airports to Sperlonga and the adjacent coastline are Rome (about 75 miles from Sperlonga) and Naples (about 55 miles). Capri is off the Italian coast near Naples, and there is daily boat and hydrofoil service from both Naples and Sorrento. Alitalia has nonstop flights from Los Angeles to Rome; TWA has connecting service. United Airlines offers daily connections from Los Angeles to Naples via Air France from Paris, and Lufthansa from Frankfurt.

Where to stay: Grand Hotel Quisisana, Via Camerelle 2, Capri, telephone (81) 837-0788, fax (81) 837-6080; reservations (800) 223-6800. The island’s most famous hotel, a 19th-Century palace with marble-filled suites and period furniture, a swimming pool and tennis courts, splendid views and a well-known restaurant. Closed November-April. Rates: $220-$375. Albergo La Pazziella, Via Fuorlovado 36, Capri, tel. (81) 837-0044, fax (81) 837-0085. A small, charming, centrally located hotel with a flower-filled garden. Closed mid-October to mid-March. Rates: $140-$200. Albergo Punta Tragara, Via Tragara 57, Capri, tel. (81) 837-0844, fax (81) 837-7790; reservations (800) 448-8355. An opulent, antique-filled place in an unusual building designed by Le Corbusier. Closed November-April. Rates: $175-$375. Parkhotel Fiorelle, Via Fiorelle 12, Sperlonga, tel. (771) 54-092. A small, quiet hotel with a pool and an attractive garden. Rate: $75. Albergo Torre del Sole, via Pontina, Terracina, tel. (773) 764-076, fax (773) 730-718. Comfortable, basic accommodations adjacent to the beach. Rates: $82-$100.

Where to eat: Ristorante Pizzeria Aurora, Via Fuorlovado 18, Capri, tel. (81) 837-0181. An old-fashioned, traditionally minded place that serves not just pizza but also a wide range of antipasto, pasta and vegetable dishes (including eggplant, a local specialty, in numerous guises); $50. La Capannina, Via Le Botteghe 12 and 14, Capri, tel. (81) 837-0732, fax (81) 837-6990. A popular trattoria dating from the 1930s, with good pastas and seafood, including such specialties as linguini with scorpion fish sauce and stuffed calamari. Cima, Via Brenta, No. 8, Fondi, tel. (771) 504-317. A family-run trattoria offering a single fixed-price meal daily (seafood appetizers, two pastas, fish, salad, fruit and wine included); $50. Gli Archi, Via Ottaviano 17, Sperlonga, tel. (771) 54-300. A well-known restaurant in the historic quarter serving local dishes, with an emphasis on seafood; $65. La Siesta, Centro Storico, Sperlonga, tel. (771) 54-617. Simple and friendly, with plenty of fresh seafood and good local white wine; $40. La Tartana da Mario l’Ostricaro, Via Appia, Terracina, tel. (773) 752-461. An excellent seafood restaurant (with a star in the Guide Michelin), where the menu might include risotto with oysters, oven-roasted turbot with potatoes or baby inkfish with local olives and tomatoes; $110.

For more information: Italian Government Tourist Board, 12400 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 550, Los Angeles, 90025; (310) 820-0098.