Little Hunt

Central Sicily


Of the rooms on the northern side of the peristyle, the most interesting is a dining room featuring a hunting mosaic called the Little Hunt – 'little' because the big hunt is over on the eastern flank of the peristyle in the Ambulacro della Grande Caccia. At the centre of the Little Hunt's second row, three hunters are presenting an offering to Diana, the goddess of hunting.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Central Sicily attractions

1. Peristyle

0.01 MILES

The main part of the villa is centred on the peristyle, a vast covered courtyard lined with amusing animal heads. This is where guests would have been…

2. Ambulacro della Grande Caccia

0.02 MILES

This 64m-long corridor is emblazoned with dramatic hunting scenes of tigers, leopards, elephants, antelopes, ostriches and a rhino – animals that the…

3. Palaestra

0.02 MILES

The palaestra wows with a splendid, sweeping mosaic depicting a chariot race at the Circus Maximus in Rome (the room is also known as the Salone del Circo…

4. Basilica

0.02 MILES

After they had been received in the peristyle, guests were led through to the basilica, a building used for public assembly.

5. Villa Romana del Casale

0.02 MILES

Villa Romana del Casale is sumptuous, even by decadent Roman standards, and is thought to have been the country retreat of Marcus Aurelius Maximianus,…

6. Frigidarium

0.03 MILES

The radiating apses in the the octagonal frigidarium contained bracing plunge pools.

7. Sala delle Dieci Ragazze

0.03 MILES

Just off the southern end of the Ambulacro della Grande Caccia, in the Sala delle Dieci Ragazze, is the villa's most famous mosaic. It depicts nine …

8. Atrium

0.04 MILES

This elegant space functioned as the Roman villa's forecourt.

  • placement: superzone
  • path: Destinations/POIs/superzone
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      "url": "italy/sicily/villa-romana-del-casale/attractions/little-hunt/a/poi-sig/1419512/1003647",
      "destination": "Central-Sicily",
      "continent": "Europe",
      "country": "Italy",
      "region": "Central-Sicily",
      "position": "superzone"
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