Mosaic is a form of art that has always captured my interest and admiration, so the mosaics we had seen thus far in Sicily greatly inspired me.  Little did I know what I was about to see when we visited the Villa Romana del Casale.  I had read in our itinerary that we would see “…some of the finest examples of Roman mosaics in all of Europe,” but I hadn’t done any further research (very uncharacteristic of me) or seen photos (even more uncharacteristic!), so I didn’t have any expectations.  I’m glad, because, wow, I sure was surprised—in a fabulous way!

A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the villa (now in ruins) was constructed in the middle of the fourth century AD as a hunting lodge.  Tragically, the “lodge” was covered by a landslide in the twelfth century, but nearly 800 years later, excavations began to reveal these incredible, well-preserved mosaics.  We were in awe of just how good they looked!  Thanks to the landslide and floods that covered them for centuries, the mosaics were protected from wear and tear.

Nobody knows for sure, but experts hypothesize the villa took about ten years to build, and the mosaics another five years to complete.  The home was built by slaves that had an average life span of about forty years.  (How sad that 25% of their lives were spent building this summer home!)

The facility structure built around the ruins and mosaics was impressive.  Not only was it covered to protect it from the sun, but walkways were built up high so visitors could look down into the rooms of the villa.  We were protected from the sun and had great views and photographic vantage points of each mosaic.

A note about the photos: Due to the natural light coming in, there was a lot of glare on some of the mosaics causing my photos to wash out, giving the mosaics a very faded look.  To show you the details of these incredible works of art I have edited my pictures by increasing the contrast in them. All of the mosaics you will see are from the floors of the rooms, and they appear in the order of our tour through the ruins of the villa.

(For all photos, click on the image for a full screen view.)

Following our tour of the ruins, we enjoyed lunch at Tenute Senia Winery, a family-run winery currently in its seventh generation.  The two Mortilla sisters inherited the winery from their father.  One of the sisters handled the service of our lunch, and the other introduced herself, “I’m the blah-blah person of the winery!”

Winemaking in Sicily is very much a male-dominated industry, but these two sisters have won numerous awards and recognitions for their wine.

In the afternoon, we continued our ride through the countryside to Ragusa, the subject of my next post.

Next up: SICILY & AMALFI COAST #13: RAMBLING AROUND RAGUSA