Villa Romana del Casale – Piazza Armerina
Distance: 8 Km. This ancient Villa represents the most important archeological ruins of Roman Sicily. The excavations, which began in 1929, have brought to light a pompous patrician villa built between the end of the third and early fourth century AD, extended on three levels an area of 3500 square meters, consisting of over 40 spaces artistically paved with polychrome mosaics. La Villa, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, demonstrates the use of the country as a center of power and foundation of the rural economy of the West during the Roman period.
Excavations of Morgantina – Aidone
Distance 4 km Aidone. The ancient city of Morgantina, located in the mountains Erei, represents an historic event of great interest. The remains – excavated from the post-war initiative of archaeologists funded by Swedish King Gustav, and then the archaeological mission directed by Princeton professors. Siokwist and Allen – define the image of a community that knew how mature a significant relationship fusion of Sicilian culture and Greek colonization.
To “relive” Morgantina one is encouraged to visit the archaeological museum of Aidone, where you can read an organic findings of the functional city. Entering Morgantina along the old national road encounters on the right, public buildings: the Recca, the Gimnasium, the Bouleuterion, the Agora, the macellum, the ekklesiasterion, theater, dedicated to Dionisio and able to contain 5000 spectators as witness to the culture of the city. And yet, the market consists of numerous shops and, further on is found the ruins of the sanctuary dedicated to Demeter and Kore, the “House of the greeting”, the “House of Ganymede.”
The two furnaces, water pipes, is testimony of the wise evolution of urban hilly terrain and the remains of the dwellings in the outskirts of the city bear witness to the size of the community of Morgantina and degree of socio-economic development.
Mineral park Floristella – Valguarnera Caropepe
This is one of the most important industrial archaeological sites on a national scale. A special open-air museum where it was documented the production of sulfur maintained continuously from 1700 to 1980. The building of Floristella Pennisi, built as a seasonal residence of the owners of the mine, is the heart of the park and is considered the mining monument of the tradition of sulfur mines.
Mountain of March – Piazza Armerina
From the acropolis down, Mountain of March, offers the image of a large pre-Greek and Roman cities. The site, built on the ruins of an ancient indigenous village, interacted with all subsequent cultures until the Middle Ages through the creation of artisan factories, cemeteries and new settlements. The excavations have brought to light buildings and walls Greek, Roman and Byzantine. The massif is 700 meters high and is located north-west of Piazza Armerina, just a few kilometers from Masseria Bannata.
Archaeological area “Cozzo Matrice”– Pergusa (EN)
At 13 km from our farm, overlooking the hilly area north of Lake Pergusa returned traces of a fortified settlement of the VIII-VI century. B.C. (Late Copper Age), a necropolis with chamber tombs excavated in the rock, and a building located near archaic. Were also found numerous objects including funerary, now preserved at the Archaeological Museum of Enna.
Necropolis of Rossomanno – Piazza Armerina
Found between Piazza Armerina and Valguarnera. The necropolis of Rossomanno, or more precisely of Rocca Crovacchio, goes back to some traces of an archaic village which has built above it the old medieval building of Rossomanno.
Byzantine Village – Calascibetta
A magical natural setting, a protected nature and edited by humans, evidence of Byzantine monasticism in stone, a cradle of Christianity in the heart of Sicily: This is the Byzantine village of Vallone Canalotto, located a few km from Calascibetta.
The town rock bears the marks engraved in the majestic sandstone cliffs, the presence of ancient inhabitants devoted to Christian worship, two oratorios are the clearest testimony. During the visit meets a first, large cave that testifies to the complete autonomy of coenobitic core, inside a millstone for the production of oil and wine, in the walls were dug countless niches for housing the tools used in the production process.
Along the way you will discover a sacred environment: an oratory, altogether consists of three caves, the first of which was reserved for worship and show in small niches walls for housing the lamps illuminating the cavern. Of great interest is the so-called colombarium, funerary architectural solution in use in the Roman Empire; niches in fact, housed the urns, for a long time erroneously considered “spices”, as it was felt that harbored vessels containing spices. Outside these environments a rectangular pool, probably used for conducting the rituals of baptism and in the background, the beautiful Valle del Morello with the eponymous lake.
Continuing the visit you come to the holy millstone to various tombs artificial cave (the prehistoric period), per room (greek-Archaic period), arcosolium and fossa (Roman period and late antiquity), still visible in their original architecture or transformed and adapted to various uses by local people over the centuries.
That the site was an ideal place to settle down and lead a prosperous life it was also included by the Arabs, which it gave proof of their technical skills in hydraulic engineering digging an underground tunnel “the qanat” from which the water flows in perpetual walls covered with maidenhair.
More than a hike, a visit to the archaeological site Canalotto Vallone is a sensory experience: the reassuring tranquility of these places is interrupted only by the croaking of frogs, the chirping of crickets and rustling leaves of the majestic oaks. A rich and varied vegetation adorns the valley of a thousand smells, especially for the presence of some varieties of herbs, even adoperate in local cuisine.