Caltagirone and Piazza Armerina

The tour Caltagirone and Piazza Armerina begins at the hotel were you will be picked up and be met by the driver who will drive you through the whole tour. We start our journey and drive to Caltagirone home of local craftsmen of production of fine ceramic art and pottery. Caltagirone is  the famous capital of the Sicilian Ceramic. We begin our tour stopping at the workshop of a master ceramist and attend a demonstration of his work of art. Following by a walk in the city center and visit the Church of Santa Maria of Monte. We then see the main landmark of the city  the famous stairs, 142 steps monumental Staircase of Santa Maria del Monte. We then continue to the Cathedrale of San Giuliano , built during the Norman domination. It was badly damage by the earthquakes of 1542 and 1693. In 1816 it became the Cathedral. The façade are made in 12^th century art nouveau style by Serverino Gulli. Then the famous gardens projected by Giovanni Battista Basile  in 1851 and  by his son Ernesto Basile. They are considered a work of art. They are divided into three sections, Floretta, Parterre and English gardens. We continue our journey on to Piazza Amerina. The Villa Romana of Casale, it is a luxurious villa that dates back around the third or fourth century AD, with mosaic floors of exceptional size and artistic beauty, recently recognized by UNESCO and the World Heritage. In the 20s’, 30s’ and 40s’ of the last century were carried out the first surveys and excavations of the 50s’ when it was revealed in a comprehensive way around the monument. The Roman Villa consists of four groups of rooms with galleries, thermal environments. It is a huge complex building in which appears a pleasant movement of winding on  different levels. The villa is more than 3,500 square meters of mosaic floors. It offers the most unique and extensive text known of mosaic decoration. The Armerina mosaic fidelity reproduction of the figures of trade fairs and exotic animals have suggest that they have been made by African artists .The majority of the panels are polychrome and feature a wide range of subjects. There are mythological scenes of everyday life, game hunting, feasts in honor of the gods ,circus games, grape harvest that  alternate with geometric decorations incorporating medals stars and patterns in beautiful  rainbow colors. All the pictures are characterized by an incredible sense of movement and action that makes them all vivid and real. The villa is centered on the peristyle, where the main and private rooms were organized. The entrance is via the atrium from the west, the thermal baths are located to the northwest, on the east there are private room and service rooms, on the south rooms containing the elliptical persistyle service room and a grand dining room. It is somewhat unusual as it is organized along three major axes. The different orientations of the parts of the villa form a single structure. After this beautiful day realizated thank to Sicily Tour “Caltagirone and Piazza Armerina Tour“, we return back to the hotel.