It was in this valley of the river Licenza, beneath the village with the same name, at the foot of the Rotondo Hill (perhaps the one Horace refers to as Mons Lucretilis), that these remains were identified in 1911. The poet himself described the location with such accuracy that it provided the archaeologist with important clues for the identification of the Sabine property that Maecenas had donated to him between 33 and 32 BC.

Many of these indications correspond, such as the vicinity of the abandoned sanctuary of the Goddess Vacuna, the existence of a nearby spring (Fons Bandusiae) and a pagus (an administrative district, probably what is now the town of Licenza).

The Villa in Licenza was surrounded by an estate of around 40 hectares and can be subdivided into three main parts: the actual residence to the North, the cripto-portico with the main entrance to the south, the thermal bath nucleus to the West.

The complex follows the model of the otium villa which essentially mirrored the town domus: we therefore find a porticoed garden with areas paved in mosaic and, among the many rooms, the various cubicula (which probably included the poet’s bedroom).

In the centre of Licenza there is an Antiquarium which preserves many of the items found among the ruins of the Villa.