What to see
The core of the villa centers around a 20-meter-long peristyle courtyard. Along the northern portico runs a 15-meter mosaic floor pattern of laurel wreaths forming circles and octagons filled with geometric and floral designs. Three principal residential rooms open onto this portico. The first room features a mosaic depicting the ransom of Hector's body, identified by ancient Greek inscriptions naming Ulysses, Achilles, and Diomedes; the scene shows Hector's body balanced against gold on weighing scales, reflecting a play by Aeschylus rather than Homer's Iliad. The room's outer border includes animals and theatrical masks at the corners. The central room contains the Bacchus mosaic, framed by four corner kraters, garlands, and panels showing satyrs and maenads. The third room displays a detailed hunting scene with an outdoor banquet, horses tied to trees, servants pouring wine, water reflections in a river, and a personification of Africa, executed by North African craftsmen in a stylized, two-dimensional manner.
Visiting
Saved from illegal lootings in the 1970s, the site is accessed via a protective modern enclosure. Visitors enter near the original north-eastern access point, where seven marble steps historically led from the nearby Roman coastal road into a geometric mosaic vestibule. Behind the main building, traditional vineyards continue to cultivate local grape varieties including Nero d'Avola, Moscato, and Albanello.
Our editors' tip
Look closely at the western section of the northern portico's mosaic floor to see dark scorch marks and uneven surfaces—direct physical evidence of the 5th-century fire and subsequent earthquakes that collapsed the roof over the villa.