The Roman Villa del Casale in Piazza Armerina in the IV century was the heart of an important property, with spaces for the administration of the company, warehouses for products, representative function to affirm the power of the owner; Since the middle of the twentieth century, it has been decided not to remove the splendid mosaics and display them in a museum (a practice at the time), but to allow you to appreciate the context: the villa complex.
Initially thought of as an imperial residence, but it is now clear that it is rather a property of a high-ranking figure. At the time of the discovery you were impressed by the great pomp, today we know in Sicily several villas of the same age and comparable level; but it has also taken note of other circumstances: for example the lack of stones of imperial caves. The large stores to the left of the entrance (separated from the villa and equipped with specific features for these buildings) were intended for the products of the farm (wheat, oil, wine); there is no doubt about the function of the complex. The architectural organization and decoration are clearly designed to hit those who arrived for work and guests of rank, but also to have a pleasant environment to live in and appropriate to the culture of the host.
Immediately adjacent to the stairs leading to the corridor of the “Great Hunt” open on the southern porch of the large peristyle two service rooms, originally paved with geometric patterns. In a later renovation, the interior was decorated with a unique mosaic, known as the Palestriti or Maidens in bikinis. On two registers are ten girls engaged in gym in athletic exercises: disc throwing, running, weights, ball play; one of them wears the judge’s coat and rewards with palm and wreaths of flowers athletes who have won sports competitions.
In another room there is a mosaic depicting two maidens preparing the same wreaths. A double environment, perhaps a winter cubicle, is decorated with a mosaic depicting a show of mimes or tetimimo.
History
The late ancient residence is built on several levels and divided into four main areas:
1. Official reception;
2. Administration, unofficial banquet rooms, worship halls;
3. Housing units with connected utility rooms;
4. Transit and service areas.
The high profile of its client is celebrated, eloquently, through an iconographic program, stylistically influenced by the art of the African mosaicists who were called to realize it and that unfolds, with compositional richness, in a multitude of public and private environments. The current structure, whose construction dates back to the first half of the 4th century AD, with extensions after the 361-363 earthquake, stands above a previous villa, dating from the end of the 1st century AD and the 3rd century AD.
During the V and VI sec. d.C. the structures of the Villa were adapted to defensive purposes in a precise program of fortification detected, during the excavation campaigns, thickening in several parts of the perimeter walls and the closure of the surviving arcades of the aqueduct connected to the spa. It was determined, thus, an initial process of abandonment and functional transformations of the rooms that were reoccupied in the following centuries, by new housing structures superimposed on the destruction layer of pre-existing walls or outside the perimeter of the late imperial building. The next medieval settlement, during the Islamic domination, took the name of “Palàtia”, Blàtea or Iblâtasah, as defined by Ibn Idrisi, Arab geographer of the 12th century, until taking the name of Plàtia.
The town, to be considered among the most extensive and articulated of central-southern Sicily, was destroyed in 1161, during the reign of William I. In 1163, a new fortified city was founded, in the current seat of Piazza Armerina, populated by Lombard settlers who came to Sicily following the Normans. The persistence of settlements in the area belonging to the site, where the Roman Villa stood, was detected, still in the fifteenth century, with the presence of a small group of houses, known as Ancient House of the Saracens, from which it took its name.
Important to know about Bikini
The Roman mosaic depicting women in swimwear (bikini) that is located in the Villa Romana del Casale, is one of the most famous of the villa and represents an exceptional testimony of women’s clothing in antiquity. Women, engaged in sports activities, wear clothes that are very reminiscent of modern bikinis.
The Villa Romana del Casale, located near Piazza Armerina, is an archaeological site of world importance, famous for its well-preserved mosaics. The mosaic in question, often called “the girls in bikinis”, is found in the “Little Hunt” and shows women practicing various sports, including weight lifting, throwing the puck and playing ball. The work is a unique example of the use of the bikini in antiquity, which at that time was a practical and functional sportswear, not related to aesthetic purposes as in the modern world.
The presence of this mosaic in Piazza Armerina underlines the importance of the villa as a center of leisure and culture in the Roman era, and offers a fascinating insight into daily life and sports practices of the time.
In summary, the mosaic of “girls in bikinis” is one of the most famous works of the Villa Romana del Casale, an archaeological site near Piazza Armerina, and offers a unique representation of women’s sportswear in ancient Rome.