Greek & Roman Legacy
The Imperial Villa del Casale, 3rd Century, is near Piazza Armerina. It is probably the finest and most extensive display of mosaics of the Roman era anywhere in the world. North African art influenced style, both in composition and the choice of colourful polychrome materials. The mosaics inside the Roman Villa include a long hunting scene and the famous sporting “bikini girls”. And also many classical and geometrical examples.
Agrigento was founded by colonists from Rhodes and Crete coming from nearby Gela. It reached its maximum splendor in the V c. BC when the magnificent Doric temples were built on the southern hill. In 406 BC the town was conquered by the Carthaginians. Though with the last Punic War it passed into Roman hands, who took over and changed its name to Agrigentum.
