Pliny's Comedy and Tragedy villas
In his letter to Voconius Romanus Pliny also wrote that the Tragedy villa was on a hill above the lake but that the Comedy villa was right on the water's edge. Their names come from the theatre of ancient Greece and Rome. Pliny said that the villa on the hill was like the actors in tragedies who wore platform boots. He named that villa "Tragedy". The villa down by the water was like the actors in comedies who wore flat slippers. He named that villa "Comedy". Both villas were destroyed long ago. No one is sure exactly where they stood.