Roman Villa of Pliny "in Tuscis"

The Villa of Pliny in Tuscis was a large, elaborate ancient Roman villa-estate that belonged to the Plinys (Pliny the Elder and Pliny the Younger). It is located at Colle Plinio near San Giustino, Umbria, Italy. He named it his villa in Tuscis (in Tuscany) and often mentioned it in letters to his uncle and others. It is now an important archaeological site even though parts have been destroyed in the past by farming. It was identified by tile-stamps with the names of the Plinys (CPS: Caius Plinius Secundus and CPCS: Caius Plinius Caecilius Secundus) and by an inscription mentioning a freedwoman named Plinia Chreste, clearly with Pliny as patron. Pliny the Younger wrote that "I prefer my Tuscan villa to those which I possess at Tusculum, Tiber, and Præneste. ... I enjoy here a cosier, more profound and undisturbed retirement than anywhere else". Pliny the Younger also had two villas near Lake Como, Pliny's Comedy and Tragedy villas, and another at Laurentum. It was located under the Apennine passes of Bocca Trabaria and Bocca Serriola, where wood was harvested for Roman ships and sent to Rome via the Tiber. The Universities of Perugia and Alicante jointly conducted 18 excavation campaigns, the last being in August 2003.