Destinations > Europe > Italy > Sicily
Villa del Casale
Located in the town of Piazza Armerina, this 3rd century AD villa was the hunting lodge of a Roman official, and is the most important Roman ruin in Sicily. A mudslide in the 12th century helped preserve the remarkably beautiful and amazingly intact mosaics that decorate every room. Highlights include the corridor of the hunting scene, with its vast array of land and sea creatures; the dining room, or triclinium, decorated with the Ten Labors of Hercules; and the gymnasium, or thermae, with its circus theme; but the most famous mosaic is almost certainly the “Ten Girls in Bikinis” in the Hall of the Female Gymnasts.