To Enna: Villa Romana del Casale

May 2, 2016

Before breakfast, I took a short, very brisk walk through the upper town. I wanted to see it when the light was better, since we mostly kept to our warm, dry room last night. It was bright and sunny, but very windy and cold. Pretty amazing turnaround from only three days ago, when it was nearly 80, and too hot.

Looking out from our bedroom in Piazza Armerina. Looks like it should be beautiful today. First impressions are often deceiving.

This is a better take on the day - very windy, very cold.

Breakfast was the usual - a fantastic, imaginative spread proudly presented by the personable and attentive owners of the B&B. These places are wonderful lodgings, in unvaryingly interesting structures - they generally seem like recent restorations of old mansions or buildings of esteem that have been around for many centuries - tile or beautiful weathered hardwood floors, exposed beams, high ceilings, and so on. The recent ones seem like the pet project of members of the professional class - last night an English teacher, the night before a psychologist, the one before a biologist and attorney.

They're also a remarkable value, ranging from fifty to seventy euros for a double room and a fine breakfast. Sicily as a whole seems so, in fact. We are pretty self-indulgent, as our readers will have noted by now - we enjoy a good meal, a good bed and a warm shower. One could travel very inexpensive ly in Sicily though. Last night we went out for a simple but very good dinner in a pizzaria - two large pizzas, a half liter of table wine, cover and a liter of water for twenty euros flat.

Back to the tour though. Weather looked decent when we first arose, but we knew better - the forecast was for significant rain until early afternoon, followed by clearing. And cold. And windy. This looks to be the worst weather we will see on our trip. Fortunately the most direct route to Enna is only a bit over 22 miles, so we scrap our original plan for a longer, loopier route.

First though, we have to backtrack a bit, to one of the top sights on the island - Villa Romana del Casale. We passed the turnoff to it three miles before town yesterday, but were too weatherworn to stop in. It looked like the perfect destination for this morning though - bike back to it before the rains begin, tour it while it's wet, have a leisurely lunch at the nearby hotel restaurant, and then head for Enna once conditions improve.

Great plan, poor execution. We loafed around the room too long after breakfast and overshot our break in the weather. A few sprinkles began falling while we were loading our bikes and saying our goodbyes. Within a block, we were gingerly working our way down the wet, slick, narrow and busy cobblestone street. When we reached the edge of the town and curved to the west, we were faced with a blast of frigid headwind and the start of a driving rain. Within a half mile of the hotel, we were huddled under a highway overpass, relieved to have found temporary shelter.

Ten minutes later, it eased off. We made a dash for Villa Romana, arriving just before the next wave hit. We holed up in a cafe to wait that one out also before walking hurriedly off to the site.

Looking back at Piazza Armerina. After about a half mile of biking into a frigid headwind and pouring rain, we were happy to find refuge under a highway overpass and wait for things to improve.

At Villa Romana del Casale: two squealing young ladies shelter in place from a sudden hailstorm.

From Wikipedia: Villa Romana del Casale is a Roman Villa built in the 4th century. It contains the richest, largest, most complex collection of Roman mosaics in the world.

I won't embarrass myself by trying to do a competent job of describing this site, but it really is fantastic - perhaps the most wonderful thing we have seen in Sicily so far. The scale is almost beyond belief - chamber after chamber of remarkably preserved, animated, fascinating, exquisite mosaics. So much about it is exceptional, but for us the most remarkable was the hall of the hunt - a mural completely covering the floor of 30 meter dining hall, portraying hunting expeditions to Asia and Africa to capture wild animals, lure or carry them onto ships, and ferry them back to Rome.

Look it up, read a better description of it. If you're ever lucky enough to be in the area, go.

In Villa Romana del Casale, an icthyocentaur: part human, part horse, part sea serpent.

All in all, our plan for the day worked well. By the time we left the villa the rain had stopped, although it still looked like it could break out again at any moment. We warmed ourselves over lunch at the nearby hotel, where we lingered around for about two hours, staying until we were their last customers. We enjoyed a dry 25 mile ride to Enna, through another wonderful landscape different than we have seen before - primarily a pine/eucalyptus forest.

Enna, at elevation 3000', is the highest provincial Capitol in Italy. It is a very exposed spot - the highest point around, in almost the dead center of the island, and notoriously cold and windy. When our hostess this morning heard of our destination this morning, she looked perplexed and asked why?

Enna is only about 800 feet above Piazza Armerina. Twenty miles later, after 2600' of climbing, we were at the base of the city, looking up at our final climb - still the same 800' above us. There is a lot of up and down on this island. Amusingly, at one point several miles back we veered off the main route onto a quiet tertiary road that paralleled it, thinking to do some of the climb with less traffic. The climb was excruciatingly steep, leading us both to dismount and push for a bit. After climbing 300 feet in I think less than a half mile, we topped out, enjoyed a fabulous view, and then lost it all back again, dropping down to our starting elevation on a road so steep we had to walk down as well.

The final climb to the city was thankfully gradual, but very busy and the road narrow. Toward the end, once we arrived on the cobblestones, Rachael was stopped by a car and had to push the rest of the way because she couldn't get started again on the steep, busy road. I kept going the final few blocks to the top, and then waited so long that I was getting worried about her. She was held up weaving between parked cars. And at one point had to remove her bike bags to squeeze between them.

A few blocks from our hotel, I used up one of our seven remaining lives when a car door opened up exactly as I was passing it. Fortunately I was able to grab the top rim of the door as I biked past and push it inward and away from me without falling into the traffic. The poor woman driving the car looked startled, alarmed and apologetic all at the same time. No harm, no foul.

Here's Rachael's video clip from the day's ride.

The roads are still puddly, but the skies remain dry. That's all we're asking for.

I'm warned to keep a healthy distance from this sheep dog's charges.

The high center of the island is very green and forested - quite a different landscape than we've seen here so far.

On the horizon, Enna: the highest provincial capitol in Italy. Still a long ways off, still a long ways up.

Another misguided shortcut, approaching Enna. This would be a lovely road if it weren't so crushingly steep.

Our reward for our punishing climb - this view of central Sicily, from a few miles south of Enna.

Walking our way to Enna. This downhill was too steep to walk safely, so we pushed it. Discouraging, since looking ahead we see a steep 800' climb into the city. I need to go back through the journal to see the ratio of days on which we have pushed or carried our bikes. Must be over 50%.

So, here we are on the rooftop of Sicily. At Antica Dimora B&B, just more of the same - fantastic accommodations in a beautifully restored building in the historical center of town; a warm greeting from the English speaking hostess and her husband, who she proudly credits with the restoration - and, I have every expectation of a fine breakfast in the morning.

And, like in Erice, here we are again - sleeping for two nights in a row, with all the riding far below us. We'll see what we feel like taking on tomorrow - maybe I can play the age card and convince Rachael that we need a day off.

Total elevation gain: today, 3,300'; for the tour, 33,000'.

Dinner at Tiffany's. For my good friend Frank, who charged us when we left home with having a good pizza dinner on his behalf. Ten days in, we finally got around to it - but I forgot to take my camera to provide evidence. This business card is the best I can do.

Today's ride: 30 miles (48 km)
Total: 471 miles (758 km)

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