The remains of the most famous Roman Villa of Casale are preserved 5km southwest of Piazza Armerina, in a little valley, on the left bank of the river Gela.  The villa was explored from the end of the nineteenth century, but the systematic excavations began only in the 1950s.  It was subsequently restored and since 1960 has been protected by a system of roofs.  The results of stratigraphical sondages in 1971 date it to an age of Constantine (303 -337 AD), a difficult and crucial period in Antiquity.  The Villa’s mosaics are the largest and richest Late Roman mosaic complexes so far known.  They were laid under the supervision of craftsmen almost certainly based in Carthage, in North Africa, that at the time was the economically and culturally the most developed region of the Western Roman Empire. 

Built upon the remains of a rural villa dating back to the 1^st- 2^nd centuries AD, the Villa was abandoned and partly destroyed as far back as the end of the 5^th century AD, with the exception of the Baths, which remained in use until the 7^th century.  Late, in the 10^th century, a village occupied the site as new evidence testifies.  The hypothesis proposed to recognize it as the early Piazza, abandoned in 1161 and later rebuilt in tits present location, seems credible.

The Villa was the mansion of a large estate.  Its name, Philosophiana, mentioned by ancient itineraries along the Catania-Agrigento road, survives in the name of a nearby place, Sofiana, where vestiges of a settlement, contemporary with the villa, have been discovered.  Bricks with the stamp Filosof found there confirm its belonging to the latifundium.  This is an important piece of evidence of the diffusion of the latifundium in Sicily, attested by the ancient literary sources, which mention immense landed estates (latifundia) on the island, with luxurious villas where Philosohiana does no derive from a name, as is usual for the Sicilian landed estates, but seems to refer to the cultural interests of the owner, which are partly shown in the mosaics.  These considerations suggest the identity of the owner as a member of the senatorial class, of the high aristocracy close to the imperial court and not as an emperor, as previously proposed.  

The complex is arranged in an area of about 1.5 hectares and consists essentially of four elements organized with different axes and on different levels, producing a deliberately irregular plan which amplifies the magnificence of the complex:

• Main entrance with three arches, polygonal courtyard beyond, atrium;
• Central, rectangular, building, heart of the residential Villa, arranged around a peristyled garden, including on its east side a great apsidal hall for banquets and other official functions as well as the private living quarters of the domina and dominus and his family
• South wing: another set of rooms probably for banqueting, with an ovoid peristyle, three-apsed hall and smaller rooms.
• Baths opening off the northwest corner with private access from the peristyle and, from the outside, from the polygonal entrance court.

Having passed through the grandiose triple-arched entrance, in typology very similar to a triumphal arch, decorated with fountains inside and outside, you cross the stone-paved polygonal courtyard, enclosed with an ionic colonnade, from which you can enter the atrium of the villa.  This takes you to the peristyle garden, where on an axis with the entrance door there is a small, one-asped shrine with the statue base devoted to the cult of the household gods.  Some scholars interpret the ivy decoration represented in the geometric mosaic as a family emblem.

The portico of the peristyle is lined with four Corinthian colonnades connected by a low balustrade with marble revetment.  A fountain with wide rectangular basin and two smaller semicircular ones, is placed in the centre of the garden.  A mosaic with animal heads within laurel crowns lies on the portico floor.  On the left, just after the entrance, you can see a private latrina with animal figures on the mosaic floor, with a small courtyard annex, and then the entrance to the baths, a very small irregular room with benches around it, so probably used as a changing-room.  On the mosaic floor is represented the domina between her two sons and her two servants, one carrying clothes and the other a box with oils and scents, that gives a private character to the room.  From here it is possible to see the long two-apsed room, identified as the baths’ palaestra or sphaeristerion with an external entrance from the south.  Its mosaic floor preserves on the most complex scenes of Circus chariot races.

On the north side of the peristyle the rooms are arranged in two rows, having a private character (lodgings for guests and service personnel).  Rooms with their geometric mosaics, lie immediately before a wide room without mosaic, the only one in the Villa, perhaps a service entrance.  Rooms, each with anteroom, are bedrooms, as is indicated by the erotic subjects of the mosaics; one with a rape scene, the other with a scene of Cupids fishing.  In the following room, clearly a dining room, we find the mosaic known as “the small hunt” from the subject figured on the mosaic.  The scene is divided in four superimposed registers that represent – from above downwards – a fox hunt with dogs; a rural sacrifice scene with a statue of Diana, the goddess of hunting; a representation of an outdoor banquet with five hunters under a tenet, lying on a striped mattress, in front of a dish of game animals and surrounded by busy servants, with at the sides, scenes of hare hunting; finally, the lowest scene represents – on the left – a deer hunt with nets and – on the right – a scene of a boar hunt.

Geometrical mosaics cover the floors of rooms and service rooms of the adjacent owner’s apartment.

On the eastern side of the peristyle there is a long corridor (66 meters) with apses at its north and south ends.  It lies on a raised level with respect to the peristyle to which it is open through three flights of stairs, the central one on an axis with the entrance to the Basilica.  The corridor is a passageway and also emphasizes the division between the “official” and residential part of the Villa.  Its shape, its exceptional dimensions, suggests this and its sumptuous mosaic as well as its location in close contact with the Basilica and adjacent owner’s apartments.  Its mosaic is commonly known as the “great hunt” from the scenes of capture and transport of wild animals destined fro spectacle at the amphitheatre, clearly organized by the Villa’s owner in Rome.  The hunts occur in various regions of the empire, illustrated in the background and in the upper register by representations of different landscapes as well as by the tow allegorical figures placed in the two apses: the personification of Mauritania, the Far West, in the north one; the personification of India or Ethiopia (for the incense tree and the African Elephant), the Far East, in the south one.  In the later mosaic stands out the representation of a phoenix, a fabulous bird, very popular in figurative arts in the age of Constantine.  

Starting from the north (left) end of the corridor, the Far West, you can see the capture of a panther in Mauritania by hunters with shields and javelins, the antelope, lion an boar-hunting scenes followed by transport of animals on a wagon hauled by oxen through a semi-civilized landscape strewn with villas and animal fights.  The wagon then reaches a port, probably that of Carthage, identifiable from the buildings on the upper register.  In the harbor, up a gangway, two ostriches and an antelope are being loaded on a ship.  To the left, activities around the ship are represented, with two pairs of slaves carrying a boar and a box or cage containing an animal, and, are depicted at the register, with an official beating a slave.  The port of arrival, probably that of Rome, is depicted at the corridor centre, on an axis with the Basilica entrance, where the composition converges, here you can see a cage with a wild animal and an ostrich disembarking from a ship; above are an elephant, only partially visible, and two officials in military attire (Pannonian hat and baton with mushroom-shaped knob).  In the same port, from a ship coming form the east, a tiger is unloaded.  This scene concludes the southern part of the mosaic, which opens close to the apse by showing the India/Ethiopia figure, with the scene of the capture of a griffin *a mythical animal of the Far East) attracted by a human bait * the head of a man is recognizable within a crate).  Then follows the scene of a tiger hunt with the device - known from historical sources – of the glass sphere in which the animal is mirrored and deceived into thinking that it sees its cubs, that in the meantime have been taken by a man riding towards the left and getting on a waiting boat.  Various other wild animals are represented above.

The story continues with scenes of animals transported on a wagon hauled by oxen with, above, scenes of lion and bear hunting.  Underneath, an elderly, richly dressed, character is represented between two armed guards.  He may be indentified with the owner of the villa.  Other scenes – one above with a hippopotamus; one below with a rhinoceros; still another with other animals – allude to the moment of departure of the ship anchored in a port (identified with that of Alexandria in Egypt, to which goods from the East converged).  In another scene an elephant is climbing up the gangway of the ship.

The wide entrance to the very large Basilica (100 feet long) , on an axis with the peristyle, is slightly raised above the corridor and flanked by two columns.  The Basilica preserves extensive remains of the original pavement in the opus sectile marble.  Marble slabs, and perhaps also mosaics, lined the walls.  A statue of Hercules, whose head is preserved, was perhaps originally placed inside the large apse. 

North of the basilica lies one of the owner’s apartments, generally identified with that of the domina, the first room of which is paved with mosaic depicting the cave of Polypheums, to whom Ulysses offers a cup of wine as in the well-known episode in the Odyssey.  From here you enter an apsidal room, with a geometric mosaic showing seasonal fruit medallions.  It is not clear if this was a dining room or a bedroom as indicated by the alcove set within the rear wall, and the fresco’s subject matter.  It is certain, on the other hand, that the room is a bedroom with the alcove.  Its mosaic shows an erotic scene in the middle surrounded by hexagonal panels depicting the four Seasons and by medallions containing theatrical masks.  A scene of children’s games marks the passage to the alcove.

The apartment to the south of the Basilica, with access from the corridor, is bigger and more opulent, presumably for a family nucleus.  It features an entrance hall with a semicircular portico, aedicule and fountain, besides mosaics of Cupids fishing.  Beyond the fountain there is a large apsidal room probably used as library, whose walls were once lined with marble slabs and floor mosaic illustrating the myth of Arion (a famous Greek poet) playing the lyre riding on a dolphin and seducing the sea creatures (Nereids, Tritons, marine centaurs) with his music.  On both sides of the entrance there are pairs of rooms, each one including a bedroom (with alcove) with its own antechamber.  In the north suite vestibule mosaic there is a scene that it is difficult to interpret showing Eros with two little boys and three women fighting Pan followed by a Dionysiac group (Silenus, Satyr and two Maenads).  In the background four crowns lie on the table below which are two moneybags with 22,000 denarii in them, as the inscription indicates.  The image refers to the prizes for competition winners.  The cubicle (bedroom) mosaic depicts a fight between children and pets, in the same style as the amphitheatre hunts.  In the alcove we can see woman and children gathering flowers and weaving crowns for the winner.   In the facing suite the vestibule mosaic shows children racing in bird-drawn chariots in miniature circus.  The neighboring mosaic illustrates children performing in musical and theatrical competitions on three levels; on the threshold of the alcove two crowns and two moneybags containing 12,000 denarii are depicted on a table.  As in the other room, it is the prize for the winners.  In the alcove below two women make garlands of flowers.

Passing to the south wing of the peristyle you can see beyond the famous ‘bikini girls’ mosaic.  It replaced a geometric one perhaps because of a change in use of the room.  Ten young women on two levels can be seen training for athletic competitions: jumping with dumb-bells, discus throwing, running (upper level),  and ball games (lower level).  You can see the athlete at the centre holding the victory palm in one hand, and with the other placing a crown on her head.  The adjacent figure holding a stick with a wheel attached is about to receive the palm and the crown from the last figure on the left, the only one weary a drape.  The wheel refers to a particular competition during which wheels were rolled with the help of a stick.   These games were usually played in stadiums; in our case they may have been held in the nearby corridor, which has the size and shape corresponding to the covered track of the gymnasium.  The next room seems intended more than the latter for musical performances.  It has a pair of columns at the entrance and a fountain at the centre.  The statue of Apollo, almost certainly with a cithara, has been repositioned in the apse.  As Arion enchants the sea creatures in the room, Orpheus with his lyre tames the land animals depicted on the mosaic floor (in the southeast corner you can see a phoenix and a griffin, fabulous animals, and on the opposite side, among others, a dromedary).

Two different gateways gave access to the ovoid courtyard with its three-apsed room: one for the visitors, the other for family directly connected to the corridor and to the apartments of the dominus.  Pillars surround the peristyle with a mosaic floor showing animal busts framed by acanthus spirals.  The three-apsed room lies on the east side of the peristyle, faced on the west by a nyphaeum with three niches with fountains.  On the peristyle’s north and south sides are a pair of suites of three rooms, both intended, like the three-apsed room, for official banquets.  A big square room opens on its west side on the peristyle with a door flanked by two granite columns in anits.  Its other three sides are apsidal, each one framed by columns.  The central mosaic floor shows the labor of Hercules: above you can recognized the Bistones horsemen with at the centre the nemean lion: on the register below the Bull of Marathon, the Lernaean Hydra, Geryon, the Erymanthian Boar and the Cerynian Hind; lastly, in the lower register there is the dragon of the Gardne of the Hesperides, the Mares of Diomedes and Cerberus.  IN the left apse (north) is the scene depicting the triump of Hercules, introduced by Bacchus into Olympus where Jupiter crowns him.  The threshold mosaic shows two metamorphosis scenes with Daphnis turning into a laurel, and Cyparissus into a cypress.  In the right apse (south) you can see depicted the myth of Lycurgus and Ambrosia, i.e. the birth of the grapevine.  IN the apse facing the entrance you can see the myth illustrating the Giants stabbed by Hercules.  Its threshold mosaic shows the metamorphosis scenes of Andromeda and Endymion turning into stars. 

Systematic excavations recently carried out on the site, in an area south of the Villa, have brought to light the remains of an Arab-Norman village.  Of the village, built upon the ruins of the Villa in the second half of the tenth century, two different construction phases are distinguishable: an earlier, entirely Arab (10^th/ 11^th centuries); the latter, Norman (11^th/12^th centuries). 

The settlement was probably abandoned in the latter part of the 12^th century, an age of general economic depression in Sicily, with marked demographic decline and consequential depopulation of many rural settlements.  But in the case of the Villa’s medieval village, archaeologists ten to connect its abandonment with the foundation in 1163, it its present position, of the fortified city of Piazza, suggesting an identification of the remains of the village with the ancient Piazza, Iblatasha *city of Piazza), mentioned by Edrisi.

Some facts endorse this hypothesis.  The reconstructions of the aqueducts’ structures, doubled in the portion with the closed up arches, allow one to hypothesize a possible defensive use: on the other hand, the consistency of the medieval structures, located contiguously both to the apse and to the north side of the Basilica, suggest they could have belonged to the residential nucleus with larger and better built rooms that those present in the area south of the Villa.  The structures discovered in this area document the existence of a rural settlement, composed of small houses (four of them excavated), each composed of a main quadrangular room with minor annexed rooms.

To this medieval settlement, possibly the ancient Iblatasah, and to the artifacts found in the excavations, is dedicated a permanent exhibition opened in 2006 in Piazza Armerina’s Palazzo di Citta (info: www.comune,pizzaarmerina.en.it), located in via Cavour. Recently the exhibition has been enriched with statues and marble elements coming from architectural decorations and from wall coverings (colored marbles) of the Villa.  Among the statues, particularly important is the head of the colossal statue of Hercules, maybe originally situated in the Basilica.