When I visited Aquileia last year, I mentioned in our whatsapp group that these were the greatest Roman mosaics I had hitherto seen. I was wondering what greater mosaics existed on the list. The group feedback was Villa Romana del Casale. I would have gone anyhow. But this way I was quite curious what I would find.

The villa is a 4th century Roman villa that probably was built for the then Roman governor of Sicily. The Romans chose the location for its proximity to the main road between Catania and Agrigento. Nowadays, the area is more of a backwater.

In the 4th century, the Roman empire underwent massive social changes. Prior, the nobility would not reside with their holdings. Instead, they would live in larger cities, directing their farms from afar. With the nobility and upper class moving to the countryside, they built large villas to live in, the Villa Romana del Casale being a prominent and well-preserved example.

As pointed out by others, the mosaics are stunning and large. They cover the whole floor of the villa and tell plenty of stories. The long central aisle (picture) with the story on the delivery chain of arena animals was the best, but there is so much more. Astonishing. And unlike in Aquileia there are few religious mosaics, so both sites are unique in their own way.

The Italians built a visiting trail in the villa running high above the marvelous floors plus a roof. The dimensions of the constructions seem huge and infringe on the overall atmosphere. But when the first bus tours arrived around 09:30h, space quickly became scarce.

My recommendation would be to arrive early (or very late), i.e. before or after the bus tours arrive/depart. Thanks to a friendly local giving me a ride to the site, I arrived at 8:50h and was table to enter 5 minutes before the official opening. The first bus tour arrived at 9:30h. So, on my first round I had the site mostly to myself. To take in the full glory I did a second round with multiple tour groups in my way; the visiting experience suffered significantly.

Getting There

Bus connections in Sicily are complicated. There are several competing operators. Only a subset provides detailed online information and schedules. There also isn’t a central page to look up connections for all of them. Finally, there isn’t a single place to buy bus tickets. It may even happen that some places will only sell you long distance tickets of the bus company that you want to buy regional tickets for.

The hub for Villa Romana del Casale is Piazza Armerina. In Piazza Armerina you will find bus connections to Enna, Gela (Agrigento), Catanha (Etna, Val di Noto), and Caltagirone (Val di Noto).

I came by bus from Agrigento via Gela. In Agrigento, the bus station is easy to find. The tickets are sold in a small booth near the bus parking lot. In Gela, the bus station is near the train station. Tickets are sold in a bar in front of the bus station. They open late, though, and there are several other bars that offer bus tickets. But not the ones I wanted. Just ask around. From Gela, you should also be able to head direction Ragusa (Val di Noto). Gela itself is unmemorable.

The bus station in Piazza Armerina is north of the old town. At the gas station, they sell the bus tickets. After my visit, I left from there by bus to Catania.

From Piazza Armerina, it’s a one-hour walk. Unfortunately, there is no sidewalk, so you have to walk along the roadside. If the locals wanted to improve tourism, providing a dedicated hiking trail would be a good option.

While You Are There

I enjoyed Piazza Armerina very much. Most of Sicily is too touristy, and I was longing for one of those quiet Italian old towns somewhere off the standard tourist itinerary. Piazza Armerina very much fulfilled this expectation, being a fortified hill town with a hilltop church. Not WHS material, but pleasant. During my stay, they also had a weird folksy parade. As usual though, the town would profit greatly from kicking out the cars.