Roman villas are "must" visits

animals walking through water--Villa Romana del Tellaro

There are 2 Roman villas we've visited on our last 2 trips to Sicily.  One, Villa Romana del Casale, is well-known, large, full of tourists, and worth every minute you spend there.  The second I'd never heard of, Villa Romana del Tellaro, near the tiny fishing village of Marzamemi (also a lovely visit) on the southeast coast of Sicily.  This is well worth visiting, with free entry, no one there but you, and beautiful mosaics (which are the attraction of both villas).

carrying captured African birds onto boat, Villa Romana del Casale

I'll start with Villa Tellaro since it is rarely visited.  Until 30 years ago, the villa lay underneath a farm.  Then, the farmer discovered bits of mosaics, did a little sleuthing, and uncovered this magnificent villa.  Unfortunately, he started to sell the artifacts he found, which is illegal, so he landed in jail, but he showed the archaeological world a masterpiece.  The villa was opened to the public 10 years ago.  It's mosaics are under cover, but not thoroughly protected, which is too bad.  Hopefully, that will change as more people discover this beautiful spot.  There are 5 or 6 rooms whose mosaic floors are on display, showing us mythical creatures and people and wild animals as well as beautiful geometric patterns.

horses with groomsmen, Villa Romana del Tellaro

Villa Tallero is near the Vendicari Nature Reserve (more on that in another blog) and the fishing town of Marzamemi.  Both deserve a visit if you have time.  Marzamemi's fishermen's cottages have become shops and restaurants as the fishing industry died and tourism took over.  It is colorful and charming and has delicious local products for sale in a number of shops.

Roman family in their villa, Villa Romana del Casale

Villa Romana del Casale is a tourist mecca.  It's a very large villa filled with spectacular mosaic floors depicting so much of the lives of a wealthy Roman family.  One large room is covered with scenes of African animals, showing their capture and transport to Italy via boat.  So sad for the animals and so wonderful for history that we have this incredible portrayal of Roman life. 

floor of child's room, Villa Romana del Casale

Mosaics in other rooms show whimsical scenes for children, families in their daily activities, and, in a very unusual display, bikini-garbed women playing sports and dancing.  Many rooms have mosaic floors full of medallions showing the animals that captivated Roman hunters and nobles. 

Marzamemi restaurant outside fisherman's cottage

woman in bikini, Villa Romana del Casale

I've seen many Roman ruins, including the fabulous mosaics at Ephesus in Turkey and Volubilis in Morocco.  These mosaics in Sicily match the quality of any I've seen anywhere and have a remarkable variety of people, animals and scenes.   They are worth the crowds, though, if you go later in the day, you'll have a more peaceful experience.  Just make sure you're there when there is enough daylight to see the beauty of the mosaics.

wild boar at Villa Romana del Casale

Sicily's Greco-Roman ruins

Selinunte temple in the wildflowers

If you love history or architecture or just pure beauty, you will find Sicily’s many magnificent Greek and Roman ruins just the places for you.  Most were toppled and scattered in the succession of earthquakes that have always plagued Sicily or destroyed by various wars of ancient and modern times.  Two particularly gorgeous temples, Segesta and Concordia (Agrigento), still stand just as they were more than 2000 years ago, and several have been partially reconstructed by archaeologists.

The Concordia Temple in Agrigento survived because later Christians turned it into a church, holding up the structure with interior walls that outlasted all the earthquakes.  Segesta stood on its own throughout and still stands grandly in a field, full of wildflowers in April, and rarely visited by tour groups.

Concordia temple, Agrigento

Segesta also has a Greek theater atop a neighboring hill overlooking the vineyard-covered hills of Western Sicily.  The Greeks used theater to entertain and educate the people, requiring them to sit in the theaters 8 hours a day for 15 days watching performances of 2 tragedies and 1 comedy, so our guides told us.  This was a way to teach the people the values their rulers wanted to impart.  But, these theaters were also the places where the Greeks conducted their community forums in which the population could discuss important issues of the day.

There were endless wars among the Greek city-states that played out in Sicily as well.  Romans and Carthaginians fought for control of the Mediterranean.  Muslims from North Africa conquered parts of the island and left their mark.  And Normans controlled Sicily before the Swabians and then the Spanish took over the island.  Many of these invaders took the giant stones from the Greek and Roman structures and used them for other purposes, from churches to palaces to protective walls.  So, many of the stones are now scattered some distance from their original sites.  The great gods of the temples vanished as the conquerors turned the buildings into mosques or churches or simply destroyed them.

Greek column in field near Selinunte

The Greeks invented increasingly sophisticated systems of pulleys to lift the stones into place.  These stones usually had to be hauled considerable distances from the quarries to the temple sites, a dreadful activity performed by slaves and, in some cases, oxen.  Slaves came from North Africa, but also from conquered cities in Sicily and elsewhere in the Mediterranean.  Their lives were grim and short.

loading elephant onto boat--Villa Romana del Casale

Northeast of Ragusa is the town of Piazza Amerina where you can visit the Villa Romana del Casale, filled with incredible mosaics of daily life of the Roman elite.  There are animals being loaded onto boats in Africa to bring to the Roman coliseums and game parks, women in bikinis (I’ve never seen that before) playing ball and dancing, family members living their lives.  It is an astonishing place.  And jam-packed with tourists, though going later in the day seems to bring relief from the crowds.  Another Roman villa to the south hasn’t been discovered by tourists, but also has beautiful mosaics, and no one goes there so you can see them all by yourself.  This is Villa Romana del Telaro near the Vendicari Nature Reserve.

lion mosaic, Villa Romana del Telaro

Siracusa has a small archaeological park with a large Greek theater overlooking the harbor, a huge quarry that used to be covered by a roof of stone until one of the great earthquakes caused it to collapse, and a Roman coliseum.  The city was briefly the Greek capital and one of the most important cities of the era.

And then there’s gorgeous Taormina, a tourist haven and ancient Greek and Roman city on the side of a mountain high above the Mediterranean.  It was a resort for wealthy families, but also site of one of the main highways during Roman times.  The Roman road is now the main street of this charming town, which is full of shops, pizzerias, gelaterias serving excellent ice cream and hidden treasures from days past and present.

Taormina

Greek theater, Taormina

An unforgettable Sicily itinerary

Greco-Roman temple, Selinunte

Two years ago, Don and I made a planning trip to Sicily, spending 2 weeks driving ourselves around this fascinating island to determine the best places to stay, visit and eat for a group trip.  We are just about to end a wonderful 2 week trip here with 10 of our friends, so I'll write today about some of what we think is the best of Sicily.  More specifics in upcoming blogs.

Norman castle in Erice

We  lead small group trips all over the world (you can read about them at www.eglobaleducation.com.) and always try to provide a mix of experiences from seeing the most important sites to business visits to excursions to some of the most significant natural areas.  We almost always spend 2 nights in one place, both to have time to let everyone wander on their own through the area or city and to avoid constant packing and unpacking, which gets very tiresome.

Byzantine mosaic at Martorana Church, Palermo

On this trip, we started in Palermo, Sicily's capital and home to some of the world's most beautiful Byzantine mosaics (just did a blog about these a couple of days ago).  Sicily has been invaded endlessly over the last several millennia, so the remains of the many conquerors provide a grand historical perspective on the current culture of the island.  Of particular importance are the Greek and Roman ruins, but the Moorish and Norman castles and churches are also impressive.
So, we included the all-too-little-visited Greek and Roman ruins of Segesta and Selinunte on the west and southwest coasts of Sicily.  Both are lovely locations with the temples resting in (this is April) gorgeous green fields of grass and bright yellow and purple wildflowers.  A perfect time of year to visit.  Just above Segesta, high on a rocky mountain, is the charming medieval town of Erice, originally established during Roman times and now a bit of a tourist mecca with its winding stone alleys, gift shops, restaurants and Norman palace overlooking the Mediterranean.

Greek temple, Segesta

Agrigento's modern city sits on the hilltop above the beautiful ruins in the Valley of the Temples, where the Temple of Juno, Concordia Temple and Temple of Hercules remain from the Greek and Roman eras.  The Concordia Temple is the only one still standing from its original days, primarily because the Byzantines decided to convert it into a Christian church, so filled in the spaces between the gorgeous Greek columns with stone walls.  This would be a travesty if they hadn't been what held up the temple during the 1693 earthquake that destroyed most of Sicily and knocked over most of its ancient buildings along with its more modern ones.   This date, 1693, is a defining moment for Sicilians even today because it marks the change from "old" to "new".

church doorway in Ragusa Ibla

We stayed 2 nights on the coast before continuing on to a charming monastery turned into a luxury hotel in the hills above Regusa.  From there, we visited Regusa Ibla, an old town filled with Baroque churches and villas.  In nearby Modica, where houses are literally stacked on top of one another up the sides of a steep gorge, chocolate is the staple industry, a must stop for anyone who loves chocolate as much as I do.  We visited a chocolate factory where we made our own chocolate bars, but we definitely preferred their chocolate to our crude attempts at chocolate manufacturing.

Modica's stacked homes

Syracuse (Siracusa) has a very interesting archaeological park with an enormous quarry that is a monument to the most horrific human misery.  Slaves worked in the most terrible conditions to cut the stones for Greeks and Romans and later, conquerors stuffed prisoners-of-war into the caves cut out of the limestone to live brief lives in total brutality.  Those who didn't starve quickly often went crazy and killed themselves by banging their heads against the rock walls.

Ear of Dionysius, a huge cavern in
Syracuse's quarry 

Ortigia is the ancient center of Syracuse, an island with a history going back to the Phoenicians.  This is the place to stay since walking around the island is very enjoyable.  The island is filled with restaurants and boutiques and small hotels.  Out in the clear blue water, you can see the remains of a wall the  Romans built using stones from the Greek amphitheater about 3 miles away.

artisan in Taormina

Finally, we are at our final stop, the wonderful town of Taormina, high above the Mediterranean on a rocky saddle with views in all directions.  This was a Roman resort with a major Roman highway winding its way up the steep mountainside where merchants could be taxed for the goods they were transporting.  The town is beautiful and charming with steep walks down to the Sea (or you can take a gondola) or up to the tiny village of Castelmola, above Taormina on a rocky point.  The Greeks built a theater here to entertain and educate their populace (who had to watch 2 tragedies and 1 comedy each day--8 hours a day--for 15 days each year), with views out across the Mediterranean and the Sicilian coastline.  Spectacular.  Unfortunately, the Romans turned it into a coliseum for gladiatorial combat and built the walls up high, blocking the view.  With an earthquake or two, there are now large openings in the walls that provide visitors with magnificent views of Sicily and the Sea.

Greek theater, Taormina

Taormina also looks across the hills to Mt. Etna.  We visted Mt. Etna yesterday, taking the gondola to the top of the ski runs, then buses to about 9500 feet where we could walk around 2 of the volcano's 300 craters.  The clouds moved off, revealing the 2 huge craters at the top of the mountain against a gorgeous blue sky.  Two years ago, Don and I climbed to the top of Etna, to the south crater, on a sunny, absolutely freezing, day to peer quickly inside the crater before scrambling down to warmer climes.  The trip to the lower craters crosses a huge lava field from 2 years ago and passes      many smaller craters, some steaming from the heat beneath their surfaces.

Mt. Etna's south crater steaming

The Byzantine jewels of Palermo, Sicily

mosaic at Monreale Cathedral in the mountains above Palermo

We have seen beautiful mosaics all over the world, but some of the best are in Palermo, at the Martorana Church, the Palatine Chapel in the Norman palace and at the cathedral in Monreale, in the mountains above Palermo. These date from the Byzantine era during which artisans used gorgeous colors to cover the walls and ceilings in mosaics.  The gold shimmers still.

the angel Gabriel, Martorana Church

The tiny mosaic stones are about 1/4 inch square, so it must have taken forever for the artists to place them.  Each stone was covered with a very thin layer of glass after it was colored so that the colors would last--and they have.
The Martorana Church was first built in the late 12th century.  Over the centuries, new conquerors changed it, but fortunately did not destroy it.  The walls, ceilings and arches are covered with magnificent mosaics, all in a small space that feels warm and wonderful.

Palermo's cathedral with its many architectural styles

Palermo's cathedral is one of the most interesting mix of architectural styles in Europe because all the changes and additions are so obvious when you look at the outside of the building.  Built in the 12th century, it has had renovations and additions ever since, so has pieces ranging from Norman to Gothic to Catalan (from the 300 years Spain ruled Sicily).
lA visit to Monreale to see the cathedral and enjoy some of its gelato is one of the treats of visiting Palermo.  Norman King William II built it in the late 12th century, ostensibly to outshine the Palatine Chapel, built by his uncle Roger II.  It's mosaics are beautiful and so it its cloister with dozens of columns, each one different from all the others.  The cloister in spring is full of flowers, but not, fortunately, of tourists, so offers a peaceful retreat from the busy streets outside.

cloister at Monreale Cathedral

Sicily had a dozen conquerors over the millennia, including Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Carthaginians, Vikings, Normans, German Swabians and Spanish, all leaving their mark on the history and people of the island.  More on the magnificent Greek and Roman ruins coming up. 

golden mosaic altar at Monreale Cathedral