Villa Favorita, Ercolano, 18th-century royal villa in Ercolano, Italy

Villa Favorita in Ercolano is an 18th-century villa on Corso Resina, built by Ferdinando Fuga from 1762 on an earlier casino of the Duke of Simeri. Its street facade has two storeys framed by paired pilasters, two side portals in piperno and two central windows, the upper one opening onto a piperno balcony above the elliptical salon. The main feature is the large semicircular stone staircase on the rear facade, linking the salon terrace to the park.

The villa was built in 1762 at the request of Prince Giuseppe Beretta, during a period when aristocratic families were building grand homes along the slopes of Vesuvius. Over the following decades, successive owners each left visible marks on the decoration and layout of the rooms.

The interior rooms are decorated with frescoes covering themes from the Bible, ancient history, and the Orient, painted by artists including Andrea Giusti and Domenico Ascione. Each room follows its own decorative program, reflecting the tastes of aristocratic patrons of the 18th century.

The villa sits along the Miglio d'Oro route, a road that connects several historical aristocratic homes on the eastern slopes of Vesuvius. Those who want to visit more than one property in a day can follow this road on foot or by car.

Isma'il Pasha, the deposed Khedive of Egypt who had presided over the opening of the Suez Canal, was hosted in the villa by the Italian government from 1879 to 1885. He had several first-floor rooms redecorated in a Middle Eastern style; much of the villa's interior decoration has since been lost.