Roman women in bikinis

   September 19--Roman mosaics and ceramics

  

The Villa del Casale at Piazza Armerina is a 3rd -4th century A.D. Roman Villa with the most extensive and beautiful mosaics of any Roman archeological site. Each of the rooms, from the baths, to the palaestra (gym), to the room of the small hunt, the big hunt, the peristyle, the triclinium (dining room), and the bedrooms all have intricately designed mosaics. 

           

The baths....showing a chariot race

The big hunt with camels and tigers

The women gymnasts in bikinis

Many of the mosaics depict Greco-Roman myths such as the 12 labors of Hercules, the myth of Pan, the myth of Arion (he was saved by dolphins in the sea), and Ulysses blinding Polyphemus, the Cyclops.

In the afternoon we drove to Caltagirone, the ceramic capital of Sicily, and like many Sicilian cities, a UNESCO World Heritage site. We stayed near the church of San Francisco of Assisi, a 12 th century church rebuilt in the baroque style after the 1693 earthquake which killed 100,000 people. 

The church of San Francisco in Caltagirone. The city is built on a steep hill, so it's good exercise walking around the city. 

Evelyn, Hervé, Tam, Doug, Virginia, and David in Caltagirone. 

One of the unforgettable sights is the Santa Maria del Monte Stairway, with 142 steps (so say the locals; I didn't try to keep count as we mounted the stairway after dinner on Friday evening). The staircase is decorated with majolica tiles, as are most public and private places in Caltagirone. 

Ciao for now...hope to get caught up with our Sept. 20 visit to Ragusa.

David