Villa Romana del Casale, 2

Rarely does one walk away from something so impressed. We have seen mosaics of the Roman world from England to Morocco, Spain to Turkey, many of them superb, whether in museums or churches or in situ. But this one is head and shoulders above all the others. Do check out other images, by professionals, on the web. If you like mosaics, ancient or Medieval, don't miss Sicily!

Among the basilicas

The most impressive piece at the Villa Romana is the 200 foot long ambulatory
known as The Great Hunt, where a variety of African animals are hunted and
captured for transport to Rome and the amusements there

Including elephants

The interpretive signage is extensive, informative, and in English too

More of the Great Hunt

The Great Hunt, plus a couple depictions of the Circus Maximus have led some
scholars to suggest that the owner of the villa was one Lucius Aradius Valerius
Proculus, governor of Sicily and later a Roman consul; as praetor, earlier in
his career, he had organized some of the most spectacular games and other
amusements the City had ever seen; perhaps the scenes at the villa celebrate
them...

Among some--count me in--the most memorable scene in the Villa is the floor
of a large room now thought to have been the ladies' gym; thus the ten, well,
nine, Bikini Girls that are the Villa Romana's main emblem

Running a deep pattern...

OK, back to The Great Hunt

The guy with the funny hat is said by some to be the Master

Still more Hunt

Helpful model #...well, locked off in a room, it actually wasn't that helpful

Satire (?) on the Circus Maximus--indeed there are the Red, Blue, Green, and
White teams

Another huge seafood scene

All 200 feet of The Great Hunt

Dionysan cult, Pan, maenads, satyrs, and such; oh my

Detail of an interesting marine scene with assorted sea divinities including
nereids, tritons, mermaids, and a stray dragon and panther

And now for something completely different: an
Ichthyocentaur...human torso, horse's front legs, and fish
tale

More of said marine scene

According to Vicki, the most memorable and emblematic scene: Cupid and Psyche

Lastly, Ulysses telling Polyphemous to have another...

Also at the Villa that day, a touring group of vintage Jags

Villa Romana del Casale, 1

The great Roman villa in Sicily's interior, near Piazza Amerina, was closed when we visited in 2011, and thus seeing it was our highest priority for 2018. It is another World Heritage Site and is the largest and greatest of all known Roman mosaic sites...a 40,000 square foot villa, every inch of which is paved in some of the most extensive and exquisite mosaics of the ancient world. The villa dates from the early 4th century, AD, when Sicily's interior consisted of a number of large agricultural estates. The owner/builder of the Villa Romana de Casale is unknown, although there are as usual many conjectures...a senator, a governor, perhaps a member of the imperial family? In any case, the villa suffered from the Vandals and Visigoths as they plundered Sicily and then was buried in a landslide in the 12th century. And forgotten. Serious excavation and research did not occur until the 20th century. One views the mosaics from outside some of the rooms or, mostly, from extensive cat-walks that have been constructed above. All the principal mosaics now have been roofed-over and protected. We were there three hours, and I took 350 pix!

The place is huge, and although the architecture is of interest, it's mostly the
mosaics that are so impressive

One of two sets of baths

The usual Roman HVAC

About bathing

On to the interiors

Rebuilt latrine

An atrium

Its ambulatory pave all around with animal portraits

Thus

The woman in the middle is thought by some to be the Domina

Abstract designs account for much of Roman mosaics, and the Villa Romano
has its share...but not more than about 20% I'd guess

Seasons

Autumn, I think

Deer hunt; these are large full rooms

A day at the races

Fishing scene

Employee relations

Valley Of Temples, 2018

We drove on to Agrigento, on Sicily's southern coast, to visit the Valley of Temples. If you're into Doric temples--and why aren't you?!--Sicily is your main place. Between Selinunte and the Valley of the Temples, and even Segesta, and some other places, there are more Doric temples on Sicily than anywhere else, perhaps more than all others combined. The Greek colonies on Sicily are so old, antedating all of classical Greece...Doric is all they knew. Nothing of the new-fangled Ionic and Corinthian orders. But I digress. And speculate. (Maybe they just really liked Doric.) Anyhow, we visited the Valley of Temples in 2011 and were predictably KO'd, and thus we were not going to miss it on our 2018 tour of the island. Somehow we couldn't find the free over-night parking on site that we had enjoyed in 2011, but we nonetheless discovered that the parking lot of the archaeological park's museum is a sosta, 6E for staying overnight. A much longer walk to the temples than in 2011, but still just fine. And pretty quiet, too. Did I mention that the Valley of Temples is the world's largest archaeological park and also another of Italy's many World Heritage Sites?

As in 2011, parked in an almond grove

From the museum, the Temple of Concordia

The museum is set in the middle of the ancient city; here, a public meeting
place, the Bouleuterion

Have I mentioned that everything in Sicily is in fierce bloom? The oleanders,
the bouganvillea, the jackaranda, the poppies, especially the big cacti, and others 
all are a sight to see

As at Selinunte, the temples here are so remotely old that no one really knows
what or whom they were temples to; but unlike Selinunte, scholars here have
made conjectures...this, I think, is called the Temple of Castor and Pollux; the
marketing symbol of Agrigento (in the background)

A fluted Doric capital at the Temple of Zeus; this chunk about the size of a
compact car

Among the most interesting things at the Valley of Temples are the fallen
telamon; telamon is the Latin term for the Greek Atlantes (male) or Caryatid
(female), that is, a human-shaped column or pier; those at the Temple of
Zeus, here, are the oldest known

And they are monumental in size, 30-some feet; the Caryatids on the Acropolis
are better known, of course

Little remains of the Temple of Zeus, but it was one of the largest ever built;
Goethe visited in the early 19th century and wrote that each flute in one of
its columns could fully accommodate a man...it would take 22 men [sic],
shoulder to shoulder, to encircle one of these puppies

Remains of the Temple of Hercules

Interpretive signage all over

Approaching the Biggie, the so-called Temple of Concordia

I propose it should be called the Temple of Twosomes...according to some
theories, it was a temple first of Castor and Pollux, then of Eber and Raps
(Punic), and then Peter and Paul (after Eber and Raps had been exorcised,
of course)

The Concordia olive tree; very old; not that old

Looking from Concordia, I mean, The Temple of Twosomes, to the sea, a mile
or two away

A temple too far, Juno; it was hot, we were tired and templed-out; and I and
Google Maps had found a path through the olive and almond groves that
seemed to lead directly back to the museum and Le Duc

In the orchards, some enormous yucca plant-like specimens, 25 feet tall

The path indeed led directly back to the museum; only, as it turned out, it was
on private property, and blocked by this imposing, locked gate; on the right
side there was a bit of an opening, however, the chain-link fencing cut down to
a mere 3 feet or so above the stone wall; somehow, despite the dizziness, I scaled
this and crossed over

And here is Vicki, surveying the situation, commenting on
my path-finding skills and her distrust of Google Maps

And climbing over, artificial knee and all; it's amazing what
70-year-old bodies can do;  the alternative was another couple
miles, backtracking in the hot dry Sicilian sun