Piazza Armerina trip planner

The mosaicked ruins of a Roman villa in the heart of Sicily

Tourist Information
Via Cavour
tel. +39-0935-982-246
www.comune.piazzaarmerina.en.it

Villa Romana del Casale
Contrada Casale, Piazza Armerina
tel. +39-0935-680-036
www.villadelcasale.it
Unofficial, but useful, site:
www.villaromanadelcasale.it
For hours, see text

Hotels in Piazza Armerina
www.booking.com
www.venere.com
www.hostelworld.com

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Piazza Armerina Guide
Intro/Sights
Hotels
PlanningIn the hamlet of Casale outside the nondescript small city of Piazza Armerina lies one of the greatest sights in Sicily. The Villa Romana del Casale is the excavated remains of an AD 4th-century villa whose 40 rooms are carpeted with some 37,800 square feet of the most extensive, gorgeous, and colorful ancient mosaics in western Europe.

This was the hunting lodge of Maximianus, Diocletian's co-emperor, and the remarkable mosaics were probably the work of north African craftsmen. They're remarkable not only for their Technicolor variety and sheer extent of preservation (buried and forgotten for centuries under a mudslide), but also for their masterful craftsmanship.

This being a hunting lodge, many of the scenes involve big game hunting and other sports, no more spectacularly than in the Great Hunt, a mosaic scene undulating for 200 feet in a catalogue of animals found throughout the ancient empire. Most are shown being captured alive and herded onto the ships that will carry them to Rome to be used in stadium spectacles (look for the North African lion, rendered extinct by such Roman excesses).

Nearby in the palestra (gym) you'll see a Chariot Race held at Rome's Circus Maximus, complete with cheering fans.

But the most famous scene is hands-down the Ten Bikini Girls, apparently female athletes either working out at the gym or competing in various events and, yes, wearing strapless bikinis.

The kiddie's rooms are especially amusing, featuring pint-size versions of the main halls' majestic scenes.

Also be on the lookout for the mosaic erotic couple sneaking a kiss in one side room, her toga slipping off for a gratuitous bottom-shot.

Open hours

The site's open hours have been in flux. Normally, it is open daily until one hour before sunset. However, due to restoration works, its open hours varied wildly throughout 2010, then it was closed entirely from November 15, 2010, through the spring 2011 to finish the work.

Though the villa reopened in late March, 2011, admission hours have yet to be set in stone, so call ahead.

A place to stay near the ruins

Ristorante Hotel Mosaici da Battiato is a fairly good restaurant with basic but serviceable guest rooms outside town and right at the turnoff for the ruins (follow the signs toward "i mosaici").
tel. +39-0935-685-453, www.hotelmosaici.com. No credit cards. Closed Nov 20–Dec 25.

More hotels in Piazza Armerina

» More hotels in Piazza Armerina (from €35)

» B&Bs in Piazza Armerina (from €45)

» Agriturismi (farm houses) around Piazza Armerina (From €49)

Planning your trip

How to get to Piazza Armerina by car: Piazza Armerina is 33km (20 miles) northwest of Caltagirone, 99km (62 miles) east of Agrigento, 88km (55 miles) northwest of Ragusa, 119km (74 miles) northwest of Noto, and 122km (76 miles) northwest of Siracusa.

How to get to Piazza Armerina by bus: From Agrigento, take one of 4 SAL buses (none Sunday) to Gela (90 min) where you can transfer for one of 2–4 daily Etna buses to Piazza Armerina (30-60 min). From Siracusa AST buses (tel. +39-0931-462-711 or 0931-464-820, www.aziendasicilianatrasporti.it) run just one bus (non on Sunday) in summer, leaving from Via Riva della Poste at 6:55am (4 hrs.).
How to get from Piazza Armerina town to the Villa Romana: Once in Piazza Armerina, the B bus makes the 15-minute run out to the Villa Imperiale at Casale hourly from 9 to 11am and 4 to 6pm (return trips hourly 9:30 to 11:30am and 4:30 to 6:30pm).

The walk from the town to the site (downhill going; uphill coming back) is a healthy one, and takes over an hour—precious little of it in the shade—so if you miss the bus, a taxi can be a worthwhile splurge. Walking or driving, head to the west edge of town to get on the SP 15; then follow "mosaici" signs to the left turn-off (at the Hotel Mosaici) 1 mi/1.5 km from the site. Park on the right shoulder where you see giant tour buses waiting if you want to avoid the parking fee at the site's lot.
Tourist information: Piazza Armerina has a friendly tourist office inside the palazzo at the top of Via Cavour (tel. +39-0935-982-246 or 0935-982-111, www.comune.piazzaarmerina.en.it), open Monday to Saturday 8am to 2pm.
Arrive early to beat the heat: They've raised transparent walls and roofs atop the ancient foundations, both to protect the mosaics and to give visitors an accurate model of the original villa's layout and structure—assuming the primary ancient Roman building material was plexiglas. However, this has the unfortunate side-effect in the summer heat of turning the site into a giant, sauna-like greenhouse.

That, along with the hordes of bussed-in tour groups that clog the villa's paths and catwalks from mid-morning on, should inspire you to arrive in town the night before so you can have the mosaics to yourself in the cool hours of the early morning.

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This material was last updated January 2011. All information was accurate at the time.

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