Mosaics and mosaic making information from The joy of shards Mosaics Resource

Roman mosaics at Piazza della Vittoria, Palermo, Sicily

These Roman mosaics are in Palermo's Piazza della Vittoria. This was the site of a villa with several extensive mosaics, some of which have been moved to the Regional Archaeological Museum (Museo Archeologico Regionale) in Piazza Olivella. The mosaics that remain where they were discovered are a mix of figurative, geometric and unpatterned floors. One shows a wild boar and a dog, and has a border featuring theatrical faces, fruit and natural objects such as pine cones. There are a variety of standard patterns and motifs, and also a 3-D cube effect made from diamond shapes. A portion of an unpatterned floor is a reminder that mosaic was sometimes simply used for a hard wearing surface. Click on the thumbnails to enlarge the pictures or browse pages.