Roman Villa at Casale in Piazza Armerina

According to the famous Latin poet Ovidio, this was the land where Persephon was kidnapped by Ades. The young girl and her mother Demeter oversaw the cycles of nature and the agricultural processes.

During all antiquity, the area was closely linked to the production of wheat and this allowed the development of a flourishing economy from the 11th century B. C. to the Late Roman Period. The Sikel-Greek town of Morgantina and the Roman Villa at Casale bear witness to the former wealth of this part of Sicily and its bond with wheat and the Greek worship of Demeter and Persephon.

In the heart of Sicily, among the undulating peaks of the Erean Mountains, we will discover two of the most important archaeological sites of the island. Our tour will begin among the impressive structures of the Roman Villa at Casale which, built between the end of the 3th century A. D. and the beginning of the 4th century A. D. , contains the greatest complex of Roman mosaics in the world (3500 m2). The day will continue inside the Sikel-Greek town of Morgantina (inhabited from the 11th to the 1th century B. C. ), where we will visit the heart of the political activities of the polis: the agorá. We will conclude our tour at the Archaeological Museum of Aidone, which displays the artifacts from Morgantina, among which the Goddes of Morgantina, the acrolithic statues of Demeter and Persephon and the silver “Treasure of Eupolemos”.