Not far from Piazza Armerina, Villa Romana del Casale is an outstanding example of a late Imperial villa, its uniqueness lying in the vast, magnificent mosaics (IV cent. AD) of unrivalled artistic quality, which decorate lots of its rooms. With its wealth of mosaics, the Villa is evidence of the lifestyle of the Roman ruling class and of mutual influences of Roman and the North-African cultures and trades in the ancient Mediterranean region.
[expand title=”The identity of the Site through the centuries”]
Currently, the Site is run by the Regional Service of Villa Romana del Casale at Piazza Armerina, and the excavation campaigns have unearthed the vestiges of all the peoples who settled there through the centuries. The late Roman Villa was built on top of an earlier farmhouse (I-III cent. AD) which probably ran the surroundings farmland and had baths, which means it must have been owned by aristocrats. Maybe destroyed by an earthquake in the early IV century AD, the house was replaced with a luxury late Imperial villa. It was strategically located in the Gela Valley, at the foot of Mount Mangone, near the roads that connected Catania to Agrigento. The Roman Villa went through a time of great prosperity as a noble country house and as a key centre that controlled local trades and a large estate (massa di Sofiana), one of the aristocratic farms of late antique Sicily. In Byzantine and early Medieval times, the Villa was constantly lived in (V-VII cent.). Pottery and tombs from that time, which have been found in the Site, are being studied; in those years, defensive fortifications were built, and buildings were altered and strengthened, which means some businesses were brought in. In the Medieval age, a large rural village grew around, south and north of the Villa. Findings show that, even in the Arab-Norman age (X-XII centuries), the site was still a marketplace and a village. In the late XII century, the site was deeply devastated. But, between the XIV and the XV century, a village was built there again; it was called Casale, from which today’s archaeological site takes its name. The place was damaged and flooded again and again, so the ancient Roman settlement, as well as the late antique and medieval settlements, emptied out.[/expand]
[expand title=”Unearthing the Villa”]
The outstanding wealth of mosaics of the late Imperial Villa was somehow preserved by the floods and landslips, which covered in mud many areas of the estate. The first, occasional excavations began in the XIX century and attracted the interest of scholars and fans of ancient art, though many findings were pillaged. Until the early 20th century, the local farmers still used some remains of the Villa as plinths for their farmhouses. Later on, scientific excavation campaigns became more frequent, the highlight being the excavation and restoration supervised by Gino Vinicio Gentili in the 1950-1960s. In the following decades, several archaeological campaigns were carried out to make sure that treasure trove of ancient art could be preserved and enjoyed, and scientific projects were developed to get a better understanding of the area in the years that followed the late Imperial age; studies are still under way.[/expand]
[expand title=”The structure of palatium“]
Scholars seem to agree that the Villa Romana del Casale was built in a comparatively short time, i.e. in the first two decades of the IV century AD, as a consistent architectural and decorative unit. The estate around the Villa includes lots of public and private buildings erected on terraces to adapt to the natural slope of the ground it is built on. According to Salvatore Settis, four structural units may be distinguished: a monumental entrance with a triumphal arch, with three vaulted passageways, decorated with fountains, leading to a colonnaded atrium; a central body, its rooms laid out around a quadrangular porch with a big garden and a fountain in its midst; the baths; a three-lancet hall (acting as a triclinium, or dining room) and an egg-shaped porch where the highest-ranking guests used to be entertained. The layout of the Villa is testament to the harmony of the rooms, which in their asymmetries set each other off into an impressive estate, joined together by corridors and colonnades, embellished with fountains, tanks, statues, mosaics and opus sectile decorations, i.e. extremely valuable marble inlays that usually decorated Rome’s patrician villas. The Villa Romana del Casale is one of a kind, because, on one hand, it sticks to the tradition of the imperial villas, partly resembling other Roman villas of the Mediterranean region, and, on the other hand, it features unusual, brand-new solutions. The ceremonial and entertainment areas were laid out as a sort of trail, which led from the entrance halls to the large porch, and from there to the basilica, the vast vaulted hall that was the noblest public reception room and controlled the rest of the estate.[/expand]
[expand title=”The mosaics of Villa Romana: subjects and interpretations”]
The mosaics of Villa Romana del Casale come in a multitude of styles and were made by African craftsmen. Most of them feature geometrical shapes and decorative scenes, which emphasise the wealth of the crops and depict Eros harvesting grapes and fishing. Then, there are mosaic medallions with decorative scenes, such as scenes of love or the seasons; ‘water’ scenes with putti, boats and deep-sea creatures decorate the baths, with realistic scenes, such as massages or people changing dress. The realistic mosaics inspired by the customs of the most privileged late Imperial Roman classes include a multitude of scenes of sports and shows: such as chariot racing in the gymnasium and other races – including the children’s circus and the children’s hunt – and then masks, musicians and actors. The purpose of such scenes was to recall the Roman places of leisure: the amphitheatre, the circus, the stadium. These are the places in which the games extolled the emperor’s magnificence, the emperor was celebrated, and everyone partook of his triumph. At the same time, since such public areas were not physically located in the Villa, which was a country house, the mosaics had to portray the monumental highlights of the capital, Rome. So, it is from the same perspective and with the same celebratory and evocative purpose that the mosaics with hunting scenes should be viewed. There is the Little Hunt, with deer, hares, wild boars and birds being caught and a sacrifice to Diana. There’s the famous, awesome mosaic of the Big Game Hunt that unfolds in the parvis, the corridor in front of the basilica, where a wide array of hunts for wild and exotic animals is depicted with unparalleled standards of colour and composition. The array of exotic animals in the Big Game Hunt is matched with sights of the imperial provinces and has been understood to be a systematic geographical representation. Moreover, importing wild animals from all over the known world was one of the responsibilities of Rome’s prefects, who organised the ludi venatores in the capital. Tigers, panthers, elephants, ostriches were known in the Roman world of games and shows, with elephant as the symbol of imperial glory. In addition, wild animals – including imaginary ones, such as the tritons, centaurs and griffins shown in the mosaics, can be viewed as a metaphor of the feral, instinctive component of human nature that should be mastered and defeated. Lastly, mosaics with mythological subjects provide a selection of myths that revolve around Hercules as the main hero of the Villa. Next to scenes of the Labours of Hercules, there are scenes of the myth of Arion taming deep-sea creatures and Orpheus enchanting the earth’s animals with his music. And then, Ulysses deceiving Polyphemus, a triumphal Bacchus, and Eros defeating Pan. As to the overall iconography of the Villa, hunting as a subject is assumedly consistent with the mythological subjects, both symbolising the conquest of human passions through strength, wit and culture, the virtues owned by the dominus of the Villa.[/expand]