Monday morning we started our trek to central Sicily after breakfast. Because Sicily is so mountainous, and there are only so many highways, it is hard to get far fast. Knowing it was a long ride and we weren’t expected at Anna Tasca Lanza until after 3, our tour company prepared to have us stop at Villa Romana de Casale.
Villa Romana de Casale is ruins of a very elaborate and ornate Roman house that was covered in mosaics and frescos and the mosaics were well preserved due to a mudslide that happened centuries ago. It’s not clear who the house belonged to, but they were obviously a wealthy family. Our tour guide took us through the various parts of the villa and showed up the mosaics. She showed us how in the servants quarters, they used geometric designs but in the public chambers and rooms for the family they had elaborate mosaics that told stories of the Greek gods or the trade routes of the time. It was really interesting. I have SO many pictures.
After the villa, we stopped for a quick lunch at a restaurant just outside the villa. It was the first time we had seen a meat forward menu since getting to Sicily. We had veal and pork tenderloin. After lunch we drove the rest of the way to the cooking school. It was probably about 4 hours of driving total. The cooking school is in the middle of nowhere and is beautiful.
We settled into our room after meeting the hospitality guides Francesca and Luisa. At dinner, we met the other 9 guests that will be staying here this week. A lot of us are American but we have others as well. We had a great dinner of fave bean soup, salad, frittata and then a yogurt ice cream with olive oil for dessert. The family also owns vineyards and this property is their primary vineyard and where they make the wines so we had a lot of wine as well as great food.
Garden tour and first cooking class today.
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