Il 16 abbiamo visitato la Villa Romana del Casale, dove ha abitato un membro ricchissimo dell’esercito romano. Questa villa era impressionante per varie ragioni. Prima di tutto, la villa era gigantesca. Era praticamente the Playboy Manshion della Sicilia romana. Dentro questa villa c’era proprio una spa, con un bagno caldo, un bagno fresco e una sauna. Un altro aspetto memorabile era i mosaici, che hanno raffigurato molti aspetti lussuosi della vita di un romano ricco. Mi è piaciuto molto il mosaico enorme che rappresentava la caccia di animali esotici. In questo mosaico si vede non solo la caccia ma anche il trasporto degli animali dalle loro terre native alla villa romana.

Casual views from the Catania airport feat. Boyd

A view from Etna. While we didn’t discuss Etna much on this trip, it is one of the most important cultural identifiers and components of Sicily, especially for the surrounding towns. Etna and its eruptions make the area incredibly fertile, making it more a source of life than it is a source of destruction and devastation.

An amphitheater we saw in Siracusa. I didn’t understand before this trip the difference between a Roman theater and amphitheater – the former has a stage with seating only on one side, whereas the latter has a stage completely encircled by seating (think Coliseum).

This one mural is among many meticulous depictions of various animals, people, and events in the “vacation villa” that we visited before arriving in Siracusa. Demonstrated further how prevalently wealth was displayed, but also presented insight into the lives of occupants of the home (what they did for fun, what was socially valuable).