We got away early on our way to Piazza
Amerina. The attraction here is the Villa
Romana del Casale, a buried Roman hunting lodge from the 3rd-4th
century that was discovered and excavated in the 1950’s. It features extensive
floor mosaics covering hunting and figurative themes.
We were lucky that we came across the
turnoff to this place before we hit town so we got there before too many other
tourists showed up. As it was, we surreptitiously followed an American group
whose guide Bob enlightened us on some of the finer detail.
All the photo originals are rather dull due to the muted light allowed by the protective structure, so they are all tarted-up to varying degrees. This has been more successful for some than others. I've divided the
rather large number of photos into the following sections:
Patterns
Animals
Hunting
People
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| A giant |
 |
| Children playing |
 |
| Detail from the master's quarters |
Beach Babes
There were several hallways with large picture stories - difficult to photograph as a whole. Images from parts of these appear above.
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| Kiosk sellers on strike!! |
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| Model of the site |
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| Marble used in the Basilica |
We finished shortly after noon, so made our
way into town and found a place that serves the arancini that we have become our favourite lunch. We did a brief
walk around town,
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| Arancini, NOT Sise delle Monache |
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| Lots of churches |
 |
| Downtown |
but the many churches seemed to be closed, so we set about finding our lodgings, an agritourismo establishment. It’s roomy and pleasantly cool inside without the need for a/c. We
did a brief tour of the extensive pleasant grounds.
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| Ubiquitous prickly pear |
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| Gum tree? |
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| Rosemary |
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| Pears |
We elected to have dinner here, and it was the first "real" Sicilian meal we've had - very good indeed.
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