The Roman Villa & Caltagirone
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Tour descriptions
After breakfast, you’ll meet with your private English-speaking driver to enjoy a tour of the Roman Villa located in Piazza Armerina. This place, with its almost 4000 sq meters of original marble mosaics, represents what is now the best preserved and most extensive set of in situ Roman mosaics in the world.
The mosaics of this Villa are an excellent example of the IV century AD aristocratic daily life. This visit is a journey through Roman mythology, lifestyle and architecture of the 4th century AD. The villa comprises more than 40 rooms, almost all of them artistically decorated with mosaic floors, including the most famous mosaic “The Ten Girls in Bikinis’.
The second part of this itinerary includes the tour of Caltagirone. When you say the name of the town to a Sicilian, he or she will immediately think of a surprising array of colors taking form in objects made of terracotta. This beautiful baroque town became very prosperous during the Arab times thanks to the marvelous and colorful handmade majolicas. We will first visit the public Gardens with your first glimpse of polychrome majolica and then will have a pleasant promenade to see the stunning staircase Scalinata Di Santa Maria del Monte, symbol of Caltagirone with its 142 steps, all decorated with majolicas. During the tour we will also be able to see beautiful baroque facades of noble palaces and churches while wandering through the characteristic alleyways. If interested, it is also possible to visit a ceramic workshop and a terracotta Nativity scene made by a local artist.
Please note: the Villa is a popular place to visit and some dates reach capacity well in advance, so scheduling a reservation early is strongly encouraged.
Historical informations
The Imperial Roman Villa of Casale near Piazza Armerina, which merits the title of 'palace' rather than Villa, is the supreme example of a luxury villa which graphically illustrates the predominant social and economic structure of its age (end of 3rd, beginning of 4th century A.D).The mosaics that decorate it are exceptional for their artistic quality and invention as well as their extent.
The Villa is set in the green environment of the area around the main city, it was certainly inhabited from the 8th/7th c. B.c., and must have attracted settlements even in prehistoric times. The Romans settled here, as we can see by the presence of the famous building, as did the Byzantines and, in the high Mages, the Moors. In the 11th c., the time of the Norman conquest, we learn of conflicts between the Moors and the new conquers, who, however, built a fortified citadel to the west of Piazza. The town got extended from centuries to centuries and especially in the course of the 17th c., by the definite urban layout as a result of the construction and renovation of the monastic complexes of various religious orders.
Caltagirone was named after the Arabic Cal’at Ghiran (Castle of Vases). The ceramic production has been the main industry in this town since prehistoric times.
Numerous archeological finds indicate a continuous human presence here from the Bronze Age to Roman Times. After being ruled by the Arabs, Roger the Norman conquered it in 1090. Once it had become a state-owned city, protected by walls, Caltagirone began to grow, between the 12th and 17th c., in the form of spread-winged eagle, which is in fact the image that appears in the city coat-of-arms. Ravaged by the earthquake of 1693, Caltagirone was rebuilt on the ruins of its old self, with the contribution of the most famed architects of Sicily.
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