Category:Villa del Casale (Piazza Armerina)

English: The Villa Romana del Casale at Piazza Armerina (Sicily) is late (late 3rd - early 4th Century AD) and probably used as a hunting lodge by Maximianus, Diocletian's co-Emperor. The fine mosaics (and there are room upon room of them; totalling 3,500 sq. metres) have survived because the villa was buried in a mud slide in the 12th century. It is now a World Heritage site under the protection of UNESCO. The artist was probably from North Africa and a master in the use of small, polychrome tessera to make the most wonderful, vibrant pictures out of 1cm x 1cm squares of stone and glass.