Located near to the town of Piazza Armerina, Sicily, the Villa Romana del Casale is what remains of a late-antique building that was erected on top of a pre-existing residential building belonging to an ancient agricultural estate. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the later building, with its unparalleled collection of mosaic decorations, possibly once belonged to “a member of the senatorial aristocracy, maybe a governor; or, according to some scholars, it was commissioned and improved by a person of imperial rank, perhaps Emperor Maxentius (Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maxentius Augustus; c. 276 – 28 October 312).”
References: Giada Cantamessa, La Villa Romana del Casale di Piazza Armerina: guida all’interpretazione degli ornati musivi : mito e realtà tra gli ambienti della residenza tardoantica, Palermo : Kalós, 2013.
Images: Wikimedia Commons.
Posted by Samantha Hughes-Johnson.