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.All Trips / Europe / Italy
A Day of Mosaics: Visiting Villa Romana del Casale, Sicily
I like to visit UNESCO World Heritage sites when travel allows because they are uniformly interesting. Villa del Casale is no exception as it has some of the best preserved and most extensive Roman mosaics anywhere. The place is situated off the main tourist path in the central hills of Sicily and was a little hard to find, but the lovely well-preserved floor mosaics make it worth a little effort to get to. It’s about 3 km from the town of Piazza Armerina.
Villa Romana del Casale was built in late Roman Empire, around the middle of the 4th Century AD, as a hunting lodge for a wealthy Roman (whose name is unknown). The overall architecture is similar to many villas …
.All Trips / Europe / Italy
Breathtaking! Monreal Cathedral, Sicily
Situated a few miles from the coastal city of Palermo is a beautiful mosaic-filled cathedral in the Sicilian hill town of Monreal. This church and the other Arab-Norman cathedrals of Palermo recently received recognition as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
The Monreal cathedral and its adjoining abbey are often cited as Sicily’s best examples of its unique Arab-Norman architecture. The cathedral dates to the 12th century when Norman ruler William II (William the Good) founded a monastery here and then added the Duomo (cathedral). William wanted this to be an important royal church and he is buried here (although none of his successors are).
Outside the Duomo is a relatively plain church, with the exception of the beautifully designed apses. As you …
