The most antique and well known mosaics were found in the greek regions of Eubea and Macedonia and they go back to the second half of the fourth century A.C. Originally they were realized with little stones; sometimes we can see that the figures were delimited with thin lead sheets.

Roman Mosaic
In the roman age the mosaic is employed more and more to decorate floors, also in private residences.
In the various roman regions, there existed mosaic schools characterized by specific decorative and chromatic repertory.
For example in North Africa the major part of mosaics were figurative type, while in Gaul they produced principally geometric mosaics.
Very soon the Romans started to decorate big imperial buildings, villas, cathedrals (Aquileia cathedral) and big squares (like Armerina Square) with mosaic.

Byzantine mosaic
This art knew a very big development in the byzantine empire. Unfortunately a lot of mosaic cycles of the empire capital were almost completely destroyed, but the most famous that arrived to us can be admired in Ravenna; some of them are the “Galla Placida” and the “Battistero degli Ariani” mosaics (both of the fifth century) and the “San Vitale”, realized around 547.
This influence was very important in Venice; here the mosaic art knew its maximum expression in the Santa Margherita and San Teodoro churches, and especially in the San Marco basilica.
Here in Venice, other than real shops that made mosaics, there was the development of the production of coloured vitreous material (“enamel”) for the mosaic realization.

Modern mosaic
At the end of nineteenth century, after a period in which it was dominated by paintings, mosaics returned to gain the right importance.
In the movements of Artistic Renewal (Cubism, Futurism, Liberty and Art Nouveau) mosaics find a valid instrument of expression and inspiration; at the beginning of 1900 they were born in Spilimbergo and Ravenna (maybe the most important in the world) where they still receive great honour today.