Roman Bikinis

At the ancient Villa Romana del Casale, you’ll see some surprisingly modern bikinis.

Dear International Living Reader,

For a glimpse of how the super-rich relaxed in ancient times, visit the Villa Romana del Casale, constructed on a terrace about three and a half miles from the town of Piazza Amerina in Sicily.

The villa was built around 330 AD as a retreat and hunting lodge at the heart of a great landed estate, on the remains of an even older villa. Though the villa suffered damage during the time of the Vandals and Visigoths, it endured through the Byzantine and Arabic eras. The residents finally fled to Piazza Amerina in the 12th century when a landslide of mud covered the villa.

The awesome magnitude and quality of the residence suggest it was owned by an individual of high rank and eminence, perhaps a Senator or a member of the Imperial family--maybe even the Emperor himself.

The villa’s spectacular collection of Roman mosaics covers 30 rooms and12,500 square feet of floor space. A few of these mosaics and columns were rediscovered at the beginning of the 19th century, prompting major excavations between 1950 and 1960. Today the villa is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Four levels have been unearthed, including thermal baths where guests could frolic, a vomitorium for those who frolicked a bit too much, a gym, a dining room, and an audience hall.

On your visit, you’ll walk through the baths, including a group of dressing rooms where a tired guest could relax with a massage before indulging in a plunge bath. Nearby you’ll find the frigidarium, or cold bath, decorated with a mosaic of sea nymphs, tritons, and boats rowed by accommodating cherubs. Past the atrium is the peristyle (an open court in a Roman house), surrounded by rooms used for public and private activities. Visitors stop here to gaze at and photograph one of the most impressive mosaics, in the Corridor of the Great Hunt, in which hunters are pitted against tigers, ostriches, and elephants.

Mosaics in the Hall of Orpheus, once a living room, show Orpheus playing his lute for the animals, while women still dance in the Room of the Dance. The Cubicle of Fruits, with its geometric mosaic, was once a bedroom. From a nearby balcony, you can gaze at a mosaic of a circus complete with chariot race.

A must-see, well-preserved mosaic, created by African artists, is titled "Coronation of the Winner" and features trim young women exercising with balls, discus, and hand weights. The winner holds a palm leaf and a crown of roses. What’s so special? The fashionable female athletes are dressed in the same style bikinis worn on the beach by sun-worshippers today.

The Villa Romana del Casale is open from 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m, with an entrance fee of 4.20 euro ($5.15). You can get there on Bus Line B, leaving from Piazza Senatore Marescalchi in Piazza Armerina every hour from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., returning on the half hour, May through September.

Elise Warner Bernard
For International Living