The main part of the villa is centred on the peristyle, a vast covered courtyard lined with amusing animal heads. This is where guests would have been received before being taken through to the basilica (throne room).
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
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Villa Romana del Casale is sumptuous, even by decadent Roman standards, and is thought to have been the country retreat of Marcus Aurelius Maximianus,…
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Scalinata di Santa Maria del Monte
13.09 MILES
Caltagirone's most evocative sight is this monumental staircase, which rises from Piazza Municipio to Chiesa di Santa Maria del Monte. Built in the early…
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21.21 MILES
This splendid archaeological museum offers insight into Gela's great artistic past. It contains artefacts from the city's ancient acropolis and is famed…
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0.03 MILES
One of a series of apartments on one side of the Ambulacro, the triclinium boasts a splendid floor illustration of the labours of Hercules, where the…
8.89 MILES
A 16km drive northeast of Piazza Armerina (and a 4km downhill drive from the town of Aidone) lie the noteworthy remains of Morgantina, an ancient Greek…
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Of the rooms on the northern side of the peristyle, the most interesting is a dining room featuring a hunting mosaic called the Little Hunt – 'little'…
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0.02 MILES
Just off the southern end of the Ambulacro della Grande Caccia, in the Sala delle Dieci Ragazze, is the villa's most famous mosaic. It depicts nine …
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0.02 MILES
The palaestra wows with a splendid, sweeping mosaic depicting a chariot race at the Circus Maximus in Rome (the room is also known as the Salone del Circo…
Nearby Central Sicily attractions
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Villa Romana del Casale is sumptuous, even by decadent Roman standards, and is thought to have been the country retreat of Marcus Aurelius Maximianus,…
2. Ambulacro della Grande Caccia
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This 64m-long corridor is emblazoned with dramatic hunting scenes of tigers, leopards, elephants, antelopes, ostriches and a rhino – animals that the…
0.01 MILES
Of the rooms on the northern side of the peristyle, the most interesting is a dining room featuring a hunting mosaic called the Little Hunt – 'little'…
0.02 MILES
Just off the southern end of the Ambulacro della Grande Caccia, in the Sala delle Dieci Ragazze, is the villa's most famous mosaic. It depicts nine …
0.02 MILES
The palaestra wows with a splendid, sweeping mosaic depicting a chariot race at the Circus Maximus in Rome (the room is also known as the Salone del Circo…
0.03 MILES
The radiating apses in the the octagonal frigidarium contained bracing plunge pools.