Located in central Sicily near the town of Piazza Armerina, the Villa Romana del Casale is one of the largest Roman buildings anywhere in the Empire. It was the residence and reception hall of a very important official, probably an Emperor. The presence of multiple state rooms reflects the late antique villa's need to satisfy a number of different functions. The Villa del Casale had a magnificent decorative program which makes it comparable to Hadrian's palace at Tivoli. The marble that originally decorated the walls of the grand basilica express the importance and official nature of the space. The mosaics, which are still largely intact in almost all of the rooms, can be dated to the end of the third and first half of the 4th Century AD; they are of extremely high quality and cover a remarkable 4,100 square metres.
Presented to the Roman Archaeology Group, Perth. 19th March 2016.
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27 сен 2024
