We left our hotel driving back into the town, Piazza Amerina. We stopped for a quick photo opportunity. The town was decimated by an earthquake in the 1600’s. When it was rebuilt, houses had adjoining walls to improve stability We then went to visit Villa Romana Del Casale. The Villa is an enormous estate of a wealthy Roman family. It was built in 200-300 AD. It is famous for its very well preserved structures and beautiful mosaic floors. Apparently it was abandoned and forgotten. It was covered by a mudslide long ago. When it was rediscovered in the early 1900s, some of the original 40 ft walls were barely visible. The mosaics tell the story of what each room was used for. Luckily the whole structure has a roof to protect the mosaics from the weather so the pouring rain was not an issue.
We left the villa bound for a winery. This winery is apparently the only one in Italy run by women. We had a wine tasting with a “light lunch”. There are no light meals here. Endless small plates of appetizers are followed by a local pasta dish and then a sweet. We are never hungry.
We left the winery to get to our next destination, Ragusa Ibla it is an old town cut into a valley very much like Matera. Our hotel has 6 floors and one elevator. The rooms are tiny but they all face the valley so that’s nice.
We did a short walking tour around town before going to dinner. We had an aperitivo meal. Wine and a table of cheeses, vegetables and meat was plenty. Time to get organized and sleep to get ready for another day.
The Adventures of Anne 