The villa is likely to be one of the latifundia, or great private estates, specialising in agriculture destined for export (grain, olive oil, wine) which played a large role in society and in the economy in the Imperial period.

During the first two centuries of the Empire, however, Sicily had gone through an economic depression due to the production system of the large estates based on slave labour: urban life had suffered a decline, the countryside was deserted and the rich owners did not reside there, as the lack of suitable villas would seem to indicate.

At the beginning of the 4th century, rural Sicily entered a new period of prosperity with commercial settlements and agricultural villages reaching the apex of their expansion and activity.

In the 4th century therefore, Sicily was not merely the "granary of Rome", but also became a favourite residence for families of the high Roman aristocracy, like the Nichomachi and the Caeionii, who brought with them the luxury and taste of the capital of the empire.

Secondly, the more affluent classes, of equestrian and senatorial rank, began to abandon urban life by retreating to their possessions in the countryside, due to the growing tax burden and the expenses they had to pay for cities.

The entrance to the villa was at its north-east corner, convenient for access from the road, and was imposing with a series of seven wide steps in white marble leading up to a small vestibule which had a geometric mosaic floor.

The portico on the north side had a 15 m-long mosaic floor with a veritable carpet of laurel wreaths forming circles and octagons with geometric and floral motifs.

This mosaic, in contrast to the others, was not removed and reassembled after conservation, and still exhibits some dark stains on its western side, traces of the fire that destroyed the building around the middle of the 5th century AD.

a leopard and an antelope, and a second inner frame with garlands of leaves and flowers and theatrical masks on the comers surround the central scene of the mosaic (émblema).

From left to right, we see Ulysses, Achilles (the upper part of the head with the helmet with a high feathered crest is preserved), Diomedes and perhaps the herald Idaios, while the figures of the old Priam and the Trojans have been lost.

The theatrical masks at the corners are there for a reason: the scene of the weighing of Hector's body is not described in Homer's Iliad, but it was likely performed in this way on the stage by Aeschylus (in the lost play "Phrygians").

In the lower section, the excitement of the upper scenes gives way to the calmer representation of a banquet at the end of the strenuous hunt; the horses are now tied to the trees and the bounty lies on the table.