Project: “The Villa Romana del Casale – Sicily: the wine of Polyphemus project”

The research and its aims

This project is supported by MiBACT 20/02/2006 n.77 and by the municipality of  Piazza Armerina and the agreement is with the Archaeological Park of the Roman Villa del Casale and of the archaeological areas of Piazza Armerina and of the neighbouring municipalities and with the municipality of Piazza Armerina.

The project aims to the valorization of the UNESCO site and to the advancement of the territory.

The research program consists of an integrated palynological-archaeobotanical study about grapevine in Roman times in the area of the Villa, considering the past and present evidence in the area and in Sicily.

Pollen of Vitis and pips taken from the archaeological layers of Roman age have been systematically studied to reconstruct the cultivated landscape and the role of grapevines in the Roman age in this central Mediterranean area.

Vitis pollen was recorded in few Roman layers (in 3 Trenches), suggesting that some plants may have been cultivated for decoration, inside the Villa.

 

Methodologies: palynological analyses, deep exploration of the topics “wine” and “viticulture”, investigations of ancient authorities.

 

Place: Villa Romana del Casale, Province of Enna, Sicilian Region, Italy.

 

Link: http://www.villaromanadelcasale.it/