Viaggio in Sicilia / 5: 18 giugno 2024 – martedì
Our last breakfast on Agrigento’s alameda and on to Villa Romana del Casale, a 1½ hour trek into the heart of Sicily’s arid Roman interior. My expectations for the Roman villa at Piazza Armerina were shaped by images I have seen over the years of animals in a mosaic floor. In his history of Sicily, J. Julius Norwich describes the Romanization of Sicily in the time of Augustus Cesar (I believe) and the evidence of a wealthy landowning class of patricians, retired politicians, and high-level veterans of foreign wars. Villas such as Casale are likely the evidence of a merit system and of the same exploitative processes of latifundia-producing colonization of the south that occurred centuries later in the Iberian Peninsula and in the Spanish colonies in America. All this to say that really nothing could prepare me fully to imagine the vastness and complexity of this villa. I always envisioned it as forlorn in a dry, inhospitable landscape. The first impression, however, was of a luxuriant hideaway nestled among an oasis of trees and plants in a secluded valley. And then the structure, the design and layout of the 52 rooms, patios, courtyards, with an unfolding wealth of floor art like nothing that I have ever seen: the visual encyclopedia of birds and animals stretching from Mauritania (modern Morocco) to India, with patricians overseeing the labors of their fair-haired Germanic slaves, capturing, corralling, caging the animals for transport. A sort of Steve Jobs or Elon Musk of the ancient world, individuals able to dominate the globe with their money and representing their domination by capturing it in its entirety within the walls of their home. Shades of Pablo Escobar’s Nápoles, near Medellín. Shades of Richard Sackler’s map of the world he set out to conquer through his plan to spawn global addiction to Purdue Pharma’s OxyContin. The dark side to the history behind the art we gawk at.
Our visit to the Villa Romana was a poignant reminder of the power of the visit: of seeing things firsthand, of seeing and smelling and hearing. It offered a powerful reminder of why we travel. Its about experiencing deeply the there.
From Casale we drove to the remote town of Aidone to visit the archeology museum there. Thanks to Denise Acampora, we were alerted to the beauty of the Dea di Mortantina (V century BCE) That figure, another standing nearby –a draped female figure (III century BCE)– and the collection of clay figures and painted craters made the trip to this small Sicilian Puebla de Trives very much worth it. At the very least we continued to see just how much Persephone dominates in Sicily. This is unequivocally her island.
From Aidone we drove an hour and change to our BnB in Ragusa. We drove quickly through the rectilinear grid of the unremarkable modern city, built after the 1693 earthquake before descending zigzag toward Ragusa Ibla. Terra del Sole popped up unexpectedly along the winding way. Our amiable host, Nanni, jumped out onto the street in a sort of Pulcinella style and helped me park. Ragus was billed from the very start to be a joy! Our introduction to Ragusa was mezmerizing. We followed the winding alleyways from our BnB through the mozzafiato old town –Ragusa Ibla– marveling at the enchantment –the color the of the stone, the windows and doors, the magic –a particularly Italian and southern Italian magic of the hodge-podge of things that people do with their streets or use to decorate their façades– as we circled back to eat dinner at Agli Archi. We dined on the outdoor terrace as we feasted our eyes on the baroque façade of the Chiesa del Purgatorio. One of the innumerable marvelous baroque churches that dot the Sicilian tourist-scape. The supreme example of the very special, magical, if not quirky way southern Italians adorn their exteriors –architecturally and otherwise.
Photo album available on Flickr at: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjBBMTH
