The Villa di San Martino or Villa Bonaparte is one of the two residences that Napoleon Bonaparte had on the island of Elba between May 1814 and February 1815. Located in San Martino in the Municipality of Portoferraio, although it is often referred to as a country house it was in fact the most important, destined however for the private life of the emperor in exile who, for his public activity, essentially used the other house, the Palazzina dei Mulini located in the upper part of Portoferraio. Despite being a villa of small dimensions, Napoleon wanted it to have nothing to envy in terms of comfort and refinement to Parisian life. The structure has a simple square plan, with the first floor intended for social life and the ground floor with services, such as the neoclassical bathroom called Paolina, with a frescoed representation of the Truth. On the first floor, the Emperor had a library built, where a lot of time is said to have passed. The two most important rooms are the Love Knot Room dedicated to her union with Maria Luisa of Habsburg-Lorraine and the Egyptian Room, decorated with hieroglyphics and pyramids, a large zodiac on the ceiling and other scenes representing the highlights of the Napoleon's exploits; in the center of this last room there is still an octagonal basin.
