The Late Roman Villa del Casale, 4km southwest of the Historic Piazza Amerina.
1. A Brief History
1881
Excavation first begins
1935~1943
20% uncovered, Cultrera, the archaeologist working on the site,
decides to uncover the entire site and to leave the remains
permanently exposed.
Roof built over the 3-apsed hall that was discovered first,
mosaic tiles are cleaned with pumice, given new cement bases
and fixed to the floor with iron pins.
* Visitors and guides throw HCl on mosaics to remove
encrustation so they can get a better look.
1943
* Allies land, conservation halted.
1944
* Allies’ subcommission on monuments, Fine Arts and
Archives make possible the continuation of work on the site.
1950s
* protective enclosures installed (made only of “obviously
new” materials)
1956
First plan of completely exposed villa published.
1970
Carandini positively dates construction of late Roman villa to
between 300~320 C.E
1977~1978
Restorations are made and site drainage is improved
1983~1988
renewed excavations provide evidence for phases of occupation
before and after the late imperial villa
1991
Site drained in emergency restoration after flooding.
* noteworthy
2. According to Nicholas Stanley-Price, the “wider significance of the villa” can be
broken down into the historical, aesthetic, scientific, and social or symbolic
values currently ascribed to it.
He argues that educational and economic values are derived from the above and
therefore are secondary values.
HISTORICAL VALUE:
Contribution to the understanding of late Roman
society in Sicily and the Roman Empire
i.e the unexpected size and wealth of the villa
required a reinterpretation of the history of the
province and its place in the Roman Empire at the time.
AESTHETIC VALUE:
Environmental (biodiversity of the area)
Mosaic floors
Architecture
SCIENTIFIC VALUE:
Studies of methods of flood control
Studies of interior microclimate
Also includes SCHOLARLY VALUE:
Questions concerning the original ownership of
the villa, its historical development, and so forth.
Evolution of preservation and restoration techniques since 1940’s
SOCIAL AND SYMBOLIC VALUES:
Beauty of mosaics = pride to the local inhabitants, Sicilians
Depictions of Roman life and leisure
As a social and symbolic value because, as Stanley-Price puts it,
the visitors’ “empathy with the past is the first step toward an
enhanced appreciation of the cultural heritage.
3. Issues raised by Interventions:
1)
Distortion of our understanding of an ancient site by the dominant research
interests of previous investigators
It was only in the 1980’s that people really began to care
about the phases of occupation before and after the late
imperial villa,
For example the Villa Rustica from the 1st and 2nd centuries
C.E that preceded the Villa del Casale, which provided the
foundation for the bathhouses of the late Roman villa.
1.5)
Although remains indicating an intermediate phase between
the 2nd ~4th centuries were discovered, as well as Byzantine,
Arab, and Norman period ceramics and architecture, the
known history there is piecemeal, since much of the
subsidiary contextual info was lost in leveling the
archaeological deposit 5m in their search for mosaics.
Need to explain all of this to the public
2) Protection of mosaics in situ through roofing
Criticized for adverse aesthetic effect
The need to protect the mosaics but also provide optimal visibility
If a site has the potential to reveal additional areas requiring
protection, should “first roofs” be deliberately designed to be low
in cost and easily dismantled?
3) Translucent enclosures for optimal visibility
But greenhouse effect, potentially damaging b/c exacerbates
temperature and humidity fluctuations (to the point where visitors
in the summer have been known to faint)
Climate control system too costly?*
4) Lack of visitor itineraries
Visitors walk on consolidated walls of the villa, so as to be able to
see mosaics without stepping on them.
Gives misleading impression of the sense of space, and of
the movement between rooms
No information available without tour guide.
One route begins the tour behind the furnaces of the bath complex
and a latrine!
*
No real suggestions from Stanley-Price…sort of helplessness
Questions, Comments
How important is it to provide a sense of the function of a thing or space?
Is it better to be using a building for its original purpose or function?
Eg: earlier discussion on Roman theatres prepared for
performances with big audiences
(i.e: walking on walls gives skewed sense of space and creates completely
different patterns of movement within it
(if that’s important, then what of ceremonial ceramics kept behind glass in
museums
____________
POWER OF ASCRIBED VALUES
Interesting how all other archaeological info was thrown aside to make way for
the mosaics for their beauty, and how currently ascribed values are still incredibly
heavy on “beauty of the mosaics”, ignoring most other history behind the place.
But on the flip side…Roman history holds such a place in classical
Western canon, “aesthetic value” of mosaic unlikely to give way to
other values over the years (due to changed nature of international
relations: economic development, industrialization, modernization,
capitalism, globalization). So why not privilege it??