We left our modern but empty hotel and set out towards Piazza Armerina. This time we decided to take the highway rather than local roads. When we got close to Catania, we saw the impressive, snow-covered Mount Etna surrounded by clouds. Piazza Armerina is an ancient town almost in the middle of Sicily. It’s main claim to fame are ruins of a Roman villa from the 4th century AD (Villa Romana del Casale) with beautiful mosaics. Tourists flock here to see the famous “girls in bikinis” mosaics. We came from Huntington Beach to see girls in bikinis?? Actually there are 3,500 square meters of amazing mosaics with various themes. One of the most impressive ones is the great hall of the hunt. Unfortunately, this being low season, only one third of the villa was accessible to tourists, which was disappointing. After a short stay at the villa, we embarked on a visit of the town (Piazza Armerina). Again, the town looks amazing from afar – a bunch of golden-colored buildings covering a hilltop – with a duomo at its highest point. It’s a small town, but we counted at least 15 churches dating from the 12th to the 18th century, several palaces and other historic buildings. Unfortunately, most of them are merely shells and badly need renovation. We found a B&B outside of the city and the owner recommended a restaurant so we went there and had a fantastic meal. We learned to only order one of each – antipasto, pasta, secundo and vegetables – and split everything, otherwise we would burst. Then, we walked around the city waiting for stores to open at 5 pm. We found a store with “regional products” -- wines, jams, cheeses, nuts, etc. After tasting several different kinds of locally produced organic wines (including an almond flavored marsala), we bought a liter of Nero’d Avola, a delicious Sicilian red wine, which he poured for us into a plastic bottle from a big cask (we won’t say how much we paid for it because it is ridiculous).
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