Villa Romana del Casale — Attraction in Piazza Armerina

If you’re a history buff or have a love for art then this is an absolute must when in Sicily! The villa is beautifully preserved but the highlight is of course the mosaics, which my husband and I made a beeline for.

Compared to the Valley of the Temples, the Villa Romana del Casale is a bit more difficult to get to only because the last 40-50 minutes of the drive is on local roads which are a bit windy and have some potholes so just add some extra time to get there as although the roads are very safe you will need to reduce your speed.

There is a lovely parking lot with lots of parking spaces. Just note that you need to pay for the parking.

Once you’ve parked you’ll get to a lovely area with stalls with souvenirs, food and drinks as well as bathrooms (which cost 50 cents to get into). There are other bathrooms on the premises but I’m not sure if they are free to use. The souvenirs in all the stalls cost exactly the same (eg 3 euros for a magnet is standard at all the stalls) but they don’t all sell the exact same ones. We bought 2 panini for 6 euros each at a stall and they were fantastic!

We didn’t book tickets online but could easily buy them at the ticket office and our waiting time was just 10 minutes but if you want to avoid any delay then you can buy tickets online.

We opted for the audio guide which was 7 euros but you could also get a guide for 60 euros for an hour and a half. The guides seemed extremely knowledgeable but we were also very happy with the audio guides which allowed us to slowly walk through the villa (we spent 2 hours walking through the villa) and had a fantastic amount of information! You’ll need to hand in some sort of ID as insurance that you’ll hand the audio guides back.

Besides the stalls at the parking, there is also a restaurant close to the villa where you can grab drinks and some food.

Although the mosaics are all inside, I would suggest wearing comfortable shoes, bringing a hat, having water with you as well as sunscreen as you will also be spending quite a bit of time in the sun, walking through the villa.

I would highly recommend going...

I made a midday stop at the Villa Romana del Casale and it turned out to be one of the best stops I have ever made. Like Morgantina only a few miles away, I don’t think this site gets the credit it really deserves (and, like Morgantina, it is admittedly a little off the beaten path.) In my mind, the two big takeaways here are the most well-preserved and abundant mosaics and frescoes I have ever seen, and the well-preserved architecture of the buildings. As I recall, the site really owes its preservation to the landslides and floods that have covered it in the past (hopefully they won’t happen again!) Besides being beautiful, the frescoes are seemingly everywhere – the walls, the floors – and they all tell a story which provides a lot of insight as to what life must have been like in those times (as I doubt that all Romans lived like they did here.) So amazing to see how they engineered infrastructure like heating and plumbing. Helpful informational signs provide more insight along the way – I had the added advantage of being behind a tour group with a very outspoken English-speaking tour guide. The place seems to stay busy enough for its location. Be sure to pack water and your camera. I went in October and the weather...

The best Roman mosaics I've ever seen!

This villa has an impressive scale and this is sympathetically recreated by the buildings that cover the mosaics, which take the approximate form of the originals.

The mosaics are very impressive and well worth the 10€ admission fee.

Here are my top tips to consider when visiting; consider taking a guided tour or an audio guide, as you will get more out of your visit. We did neither and our understanding was limited to the information notices dotted around the route you take through the villa. There was no complimentary map or guide pamphlet. If you do neither of the above then do follow the signs, your visit will make more sense and you won't miss anything. Set you sat-nav to the car park (Parcheggio a pagamento -Villa Romana del Casale), not the villa 👍🏻 There are no toilets (we couldn't find any) within the villa compound (after the ticket office). There are some in the adjacent restaurant, however they are seatless / grim. Those in the car park...