Somewhere in the fourth century AD, a very rich Roman, perhaps a senator or an imperial official, built a country villa in the hills of central Sicily and covered its floors with mosaics. The Villa Romana del Casale, just outside Piazza Armerina, has some of the finest and most extensive Roman floor mosaics anywhere, around 3,500 square metres, inscribed on the UNESCO list in 1997. Buried by a landslide in the Middle Ages, the villa was rediscovered and excavated mainly in the twentieth century, and the mosaics were preserved remarkably well.
The scenes are extraordinary. The great hunt corridor, sixty metres long, shows wild animals being captured in Africa and India and shipped to Rome for the games. The famous bikini girls are young women exercising in what look like two-piece costumes. There are scenes of mythology, fishing, children playing and daily life, all rendered with lively detail. Walkways let you look down onto the floors without touching them. Arrive early to avoid tour groups and the midday heat.
Piazza Armerina itself is a hilltop town of medieval and Baroque buildings, crowned by a large cathedral, and it is worth a walk. In August, the Palio dei Normanni recalls the Norman conquest of Sicily with a medieval pageant. The town has fuel, shops and restaurants serving Sicilian classics, from arancini to pasta alla norma and cannoli.
The riding in central Sicily is surprisingly good. The roads through the interior are winding, hilly and often quiet, passing through wheat fields, olive groves and hill towns, with views toward Etna on clear days. Surfaces can be rough, with potholes and repairs, and some roads have been damaged by landslides, so stay alert. From here, the rides lead south-east to the Baroque towns of the Val di Noto, Caltagirone with its ceramic staircase, and Militello, all part of another UNESCO listing. Spring is the ideal time, when the hills are green and covered in wildflowers.