Villa Arbusto got its name from the fixed name of the area, mentioned in the sources as early as the beginning of the seventeenth century. It is located in a beautiful panoramic position overlooking the central square of Santa Restituta and opposite the promontory of Monte de Vico, where the ancient acropolis of Pitecusa once stood.

In 1785, the Arbusto estate was acquired by Don Carlos Acquaviva, Duke of Atri, who belongs to an old aristocratic Abruzzo family. There he builds a country house with a large garden. In 1805, the Akvaviva line in the male line ends, and the house passes to other owners. For most of the last century, the house was in the possession of the Neapolitan Biondi family, who received high-ranking guests there. Subsequently, the house was owned by various people, until, in 1952, it was acquired by the famous publisher and film producer Angelo Rizzoli. During the reconstruction of the villa for the private residence of Rizzoli, the exterior of the eighteenth-century building is left unchanged, while the interior, after the demolition of the superstructure, returns to its original layout.
In 1978, during a conference on the funerary cults of the ancient world, held in Lacco Ameno, the conversation turned to the project of creating a museum. Mayor Prof. Vincenzo Mennella, together with the President of the province, Giuseppe Iacono, a native of Casamicciola, invite the conference participants to visit the Villa Arbusto, which, after the death of its last owner, Angelo Rizzoli, was put up for sale by his heirs, and say: “If you consider this a suitable place for your museum, we will buy." Everyone from the Chief Archaeologist Faust Zevi enthusiastically accepted this decision and two years later, thanks to a financial contribution from the Province and the Region, the municipality acquires the ownership of a huge estate of 12,000 sq.m. with the aim of creating a museum, a research center and a public park there. The project was only completed in 1999. The most important archaeological finds from the prehistoric period up to the Roman era are presented as museum exhibits; while the rest of the material is in the museum vault.
Also here is the Angelo Rizzoli Museum, which displays an extensive collection of photographs of the famous publisher and film producer.