Sicily-Piazza Armerina

Villa del Cassale-Mosaic- Erotica

Villa del Cassale-Mosaic-Boar Hunt

Villa del Cassale-Mosaic-Soldier with Swastika

March 25, 2014

Preservation Treasure

We took off in our SUV (Italians say "soov") & hoped Our Lady of the GPS (Gypsy for short) would be our salvation. We didn't get far when we made our first petrol stop. Yikes! It cost $98 (US) to fill the tank. It gave us a chance to show Judi the spread of food they serve at Autostrada rest stops: made to order pasta station, grilled meats, veggies galore & gorgeous fresh fruit.

We were going to the interior of Sicily, Enna, the only landlocked province of the island. It's called the "bellybutton" & I can tell you there were enough sheep in this rural district to create lint to fill that navel. The scenery changed from coastal to rolling hills, verdant agricultural land, fruit trees sporting their spring finery of pink & white blossoms, & farm critters out for a romp after a long winter. Wildflowers were just sprouting & added their yellow, red, & purple palette to our journey.

Piazza Armerina is the town near which Villa del Casale (also known as Villa Romano) is situated. The scholarly guess is that it was built as a summer home in the third century for an imperial family, perhaps Maximillian's. It's 1,000 foot long expanse was likely used by Arabs after the Romans. The Normans & William the Bad (don't you love it) probably destroyed it, built over it & in so doing unwittingly saved the treasures within. A landslide in 1950, finished it off. Around 1959 restoration began & it was declared a World Heritage Site.

We arrived around lunchtime & battled crowds of teens & German tourists trying to be served. We found a steam table laden with what turned out to be a delectable array of meats, veggies, & pastas. We ate heartily, but needed fuel for the afternoon ahead. It had turned cold & damp & we had to steel ourselves to maneuver our group of three around those very same Germans & teens throughout the site.

We tried to hire a private guide but there were none available. We thought about renting an audio guide, but some Canadians with whom we shared a table at lunch said the signs were very descriptive & in English. We took their advice.

There were signs, indeed, but many were faded & most were poorly lighted. David had a tiny flashlight, which helped, & we took turns reading. It became a contest of vocalization between the German guide & us. David won, hands down. At times we wondered if the translation of the Italian we were reading was even English. We got silly & began reading with exaggerated expression & mocking tone.

BUT, the place is a wonder. There are at least 40 mosaics, almost intact, showing details of the life & times. Effort was made & gobs of money spent for artists & artisans to plan & execute the laying of teeny tiny multicolored tiles depicting the culture, pastimes, fashion, & lifestyle of the elite.

The variety ranged from mosaics showing "either men & women dancing" or "kidnapping & rape" (guess the scholars couldn't decide), to women in what appear to be bikinis, to a person with what appeared to be two penises. It took all our powers of deduction to decide that the figure in question was un-bearded & probably female. After much debate, we deferred to the expert in our midst, David. He declared the two "things" between her legs to be over-sized labia. What the...?

We finished our circuit of the villa after two hours. None to soon. We huddled over our cups of tea & contemplated our two-hour ride home. It was uneventful except for finding legal free parking near the hotel. We were brain dead so headed for the restaurant we went to last night. Again, a fantastic meal. I was curious about the origin of the lovely free-form dishes so turned one over hoping to find the artist's name. I was crushed to see "Made in China" stamped on the bottom. So much for my discerning taste.

As you can see, we didn't try to go to the mikveh today. We'd read about it, seen pictures on line, & had been to several others around the world. This one was special in that it is down fifty-six steps, has several pools, & still has fresh water flowing into it from the aquifer even after the Spanish buried it in garbage during the Inquisition. But we didn't want to take the time & chance it was closed anyway so took a pass. We're Bad.

Tomorrow we go to Noto, Ragusa, Modica, & the ferry to Malta. David asked if I knew what was there. I said, "Noto." Sorry for that.

Toby