The city of Piazza Armerina, almost dead in the centre of Sicily, is chiefly famous for the Villa Romana del Casale, with its extraordinary collection of Roman mosaics, the largest and finest still in existence. The Villa is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and, needless to say, any visit to Piazza HAS to take in the complex. There is much else to see besides though. The huge Cathedral was built during the 17th and 18th centuries over an existing church (of which the bell tower is a survivor), along with older Gothic-Catalan windows. The Duomo also has a museum of relics which might occupy an hour or so of your time. Other notable town buildings include the Palazzo Trigona, the Churches of Fundro (1613), San Giovanni Evangelista (14th century),St Martin of Tours (1163) and Santa Maria del Gesù (16th century), which is currently abandoned. There is the Baroque Church of St Roch, with its carved portal of tufa and the 12th century Hermitage of St Andrew. See too the Aragonese Castle (1392-96) and the Priory Church of Sant’Andrea (11th century). The city’s main celebration is the Palio dei Normanni, a costumed re-enacting of the entrance of Count Roger I to the city. An interesting idiosyncracy is the local dialect, which differs markedly from neighbouring towns. William II of Sicily repopulated the town with settlers from Lombardy during the latter 12th century, most of them from Monferrato and Piacenza. The northern Italian dialect still persists in this ‘Lombardic’ comune.