Pliny's Comedy and Tragedy Villas

Pliny's Comedy and Tragedy Villas were two Roman villas owned by Pliny the Younger on the shores of Lake Como in the 1st century CE. Pliny named and described them in a letter to his friend Voconius Romanus as his favorite properties, drawing the names from theatrical convention: the Tragedy villa stood atop a ridge like an actor raised on tragic platform boots, while the Comedy villa sat at the shoreline with a gently curved terrace following the shape of the bay, close enough to fish from its bedroom window. The Tragedy villa is generally placed near Bellagio, possibly on the site later occupied by Villa Serbelloni, while the location of the Comedy villa is disputed between Lenno and Lierna. Neither structure survives, and a Roman mosaic floor found at Lierna in 1876 is the only physical trace that may connect to either site.