Running, hurling a discus and power-walking (dumbbells in hand, arms properly swinging above the heart), the “Bikini Girls” gambol across the mosaic floor of a late-Roman villa, near Piazza Armerina in south-central Sicily. The opulent, sprawling villa was built as a country hunting lodge by either the Roman emperor Maxentius (306–312 A.D.) or his son. Entered through a three-arched gateway, this pleasure palace contained, well, luxury—marble columns, an atrium with fountain and garden, elegantly porticoed latrines, suites for family and guests, and a bewitching network of cold, warm and hot baths. Covering the villa’s floors were 38,000 square feet […]
