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/

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

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

The senses tell the Tri-Apsed Triclinium

The Latifundium

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

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

The composition of the spaces

The senses tell the monumental entrance

A royal room housed the Dominus during his audiences

An organic microcosm: the structure of the villa

The senses tell the Vestibule

A small room used as a privileged entrance to the baths

A dialogue between mythological and realistic scenes

A hidden meaning

A view of the race from the imperial gallery

The mosaics of the late antiquity residence

A dignified setting dedicated to the myth of Arion

The possible celebration of a solemn event

The paths of virus, a reflection of the Dominus

The protagonists of the mosaic and the military themed frescoes

The public and private rooms of the villa

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

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

Outdoor breakfast

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

The myth of Orpheus

A day of hunting at the villa

The senses tell the Sacellum of the Lares

An official ceremony to welcome the Dominus

The senses tell the Quadrangular Peristyle

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

The public rooms of the Villa

The senses tell the Basilica

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

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

Solemn and majestic architecture to welcome a high-ranking commissioner

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

Form of greeting or ritual?

The capture of wild animals for the roman amphitheatre games

The protagonists of the mosaics

A large banquet hall

The mansio of Philosophiana. A stopping place

The senses tell the Bi-Apsed room

The Mansio, a stopping place

The room of the seasons

The layout of the rooms

The rural sacrifice

The catalogue of animals

The prestige of the dominus is revealed through the wall frescoes

The Mansio of Sophiana

The apotheosis of Hercules

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

An individual who has attracted the attention of scholars

The main nuclei of the Domus

Date Clues

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

A small room embellished with marble

The Latifundium

The Peristyle of the Villa

A line of armed men for an important Dominus

Semi-public rooms

An eloquent symbol: the signum

Pars Fructuaria e Pars Rustica

A room dedicated to the sea

Criteria for including Piazza Armerina in the WHL

The senses tell the frigidarium

The astral interpretation of the mosaic

The senses tell the private entrance to the spa

Worship of the Lares

The senses tell the massage room

A decoration that marks time