WHL

Criteria for including Piazza Armerina in the WHL

Roman exploitation of the countryside is symbolised by the Villa Romana del Casale (Sicily), the centre of the large estate upon which the rural economy of the Western Empire was based. The villa is one of the most luxurious of its kind. It is especially noteworthy for the richness and quality of the mosaics which decorate almost every room; they are the finest mosaics in situ anywhere in the Roman world
The UNESCO Committee decided to inscribe this property on the basis of criteria (i), (ii) and (iii), considering that the Villa del Casale in Piazza Armerina is the supreme example of a luxury Roman villa, which graphically expresses the predominant social and economic structure of its age. The mosaics that decorate it are exceptional for their artistic quality and invention as well as for their extent.

Source: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/832/

The mosaics of the late antiquity residence

The catalogue of animals

A small room represents one of the activities of the thermal bath route

A dignified setting dedicated to the myth of Arion

Auspicious symbols and perhaps the initials of the commissioner’s name decorate the mosaic of the apsidal room

The senses tell the Basilica

The rural sacrifice

Form of greeting or ritual?

Outdoor breakfast

The paths of virus, a reflection of the Dominus

Is the profile of the dominus hidden among the scenes depicted in the mosaics?

The senses tell the Quadrangular Peristyle

The senses tell the private entrance to the spa

The Mansio of Sophiana

The main nuclei of the Domus

The apotheosis of Hercules

The senses tell the monumental entrance

The composition of the spaces

The capture of wild animals for the roman amphitheatre games

The marble from the regions of the empire to decorate the basilica

Solemn and majestic architecture to welcome a high-ranking commissioner

The senses tell the Bi-Apsed room

An official ceremony to welcome the Dominus

The myth of Orpheus

The late antiquity residence: locus amoenus and centre of administrative activities in the heart of Sicily

The possible celebration of a solemn event

Banquets and panegyrics enlivened the vast hall, against the background of a floor mosaic celebrating the feats of Hercules

The golden age: hypotheses about the villa’s period of construction and clues

The Peristyle of the Villa

A day of hunting at the villa

A large colonnaded portico, a place of connection between the rooms

A small room embellished with marble

The protagonists of the mosaics

A hidden meaning

The senses tell the bi-apsed ambulatory – Corridor of the “Great Hunt”

The senses tell the Sacellum of the Lares

The Latifundium

The senses tell the room in the private apartment known as “small hunt”

The Latifundium

The Mansio, a stopping place

A view of the race from the imperial gallery

High-ranking characters depicted in the mosaics of the apsidal niches of the frigidarium

The room of the seasons

The realistic depiction of a spa procession with a high-ranking female figure

The layout of the rooms

A dialogue between mythological and realistic scenes

The mansio of Philosophiana. A stopping place

An individual who has attracted the attention of scholars

A chariot race, set in the circus Maximus of Rome, connects the villa to the city and centre of power

A large banquet hall

The prestige of the dominus is revealed through the wall frescoes

A decoration that marks time

Date Clues

Semi-public rooms

Pars Fructuaria e Pars Rustica

The senses tell the Tri-Apsed Triclinium

The public and private rooms of the villa

A line of armed men for an important Dominus

The senses tell the Vestibule

A small room used as a privileged entrance to the baths

A room dedicated to the sea

The protagonists of the mosaic and the military themed frescoes

A royal room housed the Dominus during his audiences

The senses tell the massage room

The public rooms of the Villa

An organic microcosm: the structure of the villa

An eloquent symbol: the signum

The astral interpretation of the mosaic

Criteria for including Piazza Armerina in the WHL

Worship of the Lares

The senses tell the frigidarium