Giarratana is a town and ''
comune
The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...
'' in the
province of Ragusa
The Province of Ragusa ( it, Provincia di Ragusa; Sicilian: ''Pruvincia 'i Rausa'') was a province in the autonomous region of Sicily in southern Italy, located in the south-east of the island. Following the abolition of the Sicilian provinces, ...
,
Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 = Ethnicity
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographi ...
, southern
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
. Its name is likely derived from
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
.
History
An elaborate late-imperial Roman villa with floor mosaics was found in 1989 near Giarratana in the Orto Mosaico district along the "regia trazzera" road.
Several mosaics not only on the floors but also on walls and various decorations were found. The mosaics have floral references and geometric figures that often intertwine with each other.
It covered an area of about 2000 m
2, with at least three building wings arranged around a central garden. The excavation campaigns brought to light the north-eastern sector of the villa consisting of seven rooms, a corridor or peristyle, and the east and west wings, added later and probably never completed.
Artifacts found during the excavations include a marble relief depicting the goddess
Aphrodite
Aphrodite ( ; grc-gre, Ἀφροδίτη, Aphrodítē; , , ) is an ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, and procreation. She was syncretized with the Roman goddess . Aphrodite's major symbols include ...
.
Another villa was discovered a few km further south along the SS 194.
Main sights
*Church of San Bartolomeo, known from 1308 but rebuilt in the late 17th century.
*Remains of Castle of Settimo
*Archaeological site of
Casmenae
Casmenae or Kasmenai ( grc, Κασμέναι, Casmene in Italian Language, Italian) was an ancient Greek colony located on the Hyblaean Mountains, founded in 644 BC by the Syracuse, Sicily, Syracusans at a strategic position for the control ...
, on the road leading to
Palazzolo Acreide
Palazzolo Acreide ( Sicilian: ''Palazzolu'', in the local dialect: ''Palazzuolu'') is a town and ''comune'' in the Province of Syracuse, Sicily (southern Italy). It is from the city of Syracuse in the Hyblean Mountains.
History
The area aroun ...
.
References
External links
*
Municipalities of the Province of Ragusa
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