Places to see in ( Catania - Italy )
Places to see in ( Catania - Italy )
Catania is an ancient port city on Sicily's east coast. It sits at the foot of Mt. Etna, an active volcano with trails leading up to the summit. The city's wide central square, Piazza del Duomo, features the whimsical Fontana dell'Elefante statue and richly decorated Catania Cathedral. In the southwest corner of the square, La Pescheria weekday fish market is a rowdy spectacle surrounded by seafood restaurants.
For all the noise, chaos and scruffiness that hit the visitor at first glance, Catania has a strong magnetic pull. This is Sicily at its most youthful, a city packed with cool and gritty bars, abundant energy and an earthy spirit in sharp contrast to Palermo’s aristocratic airs. Catania’s historic core is a Unesco-listed wonder, where black-and-white palazzi tower over sweeping baroque piazzas. One minute you’re scanning the skyline from a dizzying dome, the next contemporary art in an 18th-century convent. Beneath it all are the ancient ruins of a town with over 2700 candles on its birthday cake. Indeed, food is another local forte. This is the home of Sicily's iconic pasta alla Norma and the extraordinary La Pescheria market.
Catania is well known for its historical earthquakes, having been destroyed by catastrophic earthquakes in 1169 and 1693, and for several volcanic eruptions from the neighbouring Mount Etna, the most violent of which was in 1669. Catania has had a long and eventful history, having been founded in the 8th century BC. In 1434, the first university in Sicily was founded in the city. In the 14th century and into the Renaissance period, Catania was one of Italy's most important cultural, artistic and political centres. The city has a rich culture and history, hosting many museums, restaurants, churches, parks and theatres. Catania is well known for its street food.
Catania is located on the east coast of the island of Sicily, at the foot of Mount Etna. As observed by Strabo, the location of Catania at the foot of Mount Etna has been both a curse and a blessing. On the one hand, violent outbursts of the volcano throughout history have destroyed large parts of the city, whilst on the other hand the volcanic ashes yield fertile soil, especially suited for the growth of vines.
Ancient edifices include:
Greek-Roman Theatre of Catania (2nd century)
Odeon (3rd century). It could house up to 1500 spectators
Amphitheatre
Greek Acropolis of Montevergine
Roman Aqueduct
Roman Forum
Roman broken arcades
Christian basilicas, hypogea, burial monuments and Catacombs
Roman Colonnade
Roman thermal structures :
Achillean Baths
Terme dell’Indirizzo
Terme di Santa Maria Odigitria
Terme della Rotonda
Baths of the Four Quoins
Terme di Palazzo Asmundo
Terme del Palazzo dell’Università
Terme di Casa Gagliano
Terme della Chiesa di Sant'Antonio Abate
Other monuments :
Castello Ursino, built by emperor Frederick II in the 13th century.
Palazzo degli Elefanti, designed by Giovan Battista Vaccarini. It houses the Town Hall.
Palazzo Biscari
Palazzo Tezzano
Uzeda Gate
The Medieval Gothic-Catalan Arch of Saint John of Friars (San Giovanni de' Fleres)
Ferdinandean Gate or Garibaldi Gate (Porta Ferdinandea or Porta Garibaldi), a triumphal arch erected in 1768 to celebrate the marriage of Ferdinand I of Two Sicilies and Marie Caroline of Austria
Porta del Fortino (Redoubt Gate)
The House of the Mutilated of War (Casa del Mutilato) built in Fascist-style architecture
Catania War Cemetery, a Commonwealth Graveyard located in the southern country hamlet of Bicocca
Giardino Bellini
Catania Botanical Garden
Pacini Garden
Gioeni Park
The Baroque city centre of Catania is a UNESCO World Heritage Site:
The Cathedral (1070–1093, rebuilt after the 1693 earthquake)
Saint Agatha Abbey (1620)
Saint Placidus (1769)
Church of San Giuseppe al Duomo
Church of Santissimo Sacramento al Duomo
Church of San Martino dei Bianchi
Church of Sant'Agata la Vetere (254)
Saint Agatha by the Furnace or Saint Blaise (1098, rebuilt in 1700)
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CATANIA - Italy Travel Guide | Around The World
Catania is the second largest city of Sicily located on the east coast facing the Ionian Sea. It is the capital of the Metropolitan City of Catania, one of the ten biggest cities in Italy, and the seventh largest metropolitan area in Italy. The population of the city proper is 313,000 while the population of the city's metropolitan area, Metropolitan City of Catania, stood at 1,116,168 inhabitants.
Catania was destroyed by catastrophic earthquakes in 1169 and 1693, and for several volcanic eruptions from the neighbouring Mount Etna, the most violent of which was in 1669.Catania was founded in the 8th century BC. In 1434, the first university in Sicily was founded in the city. In the 14th century and into the Renaissance period, Catania was one of Italy's most important cultural, artistic and political centres.
Catania is located on the east coast of the island of Sicily, at the foot of Mount Etna.
The symbol of the city is u Liotru, or the Fontana dell'Elefante, assembled in 1736 by Giovanni Battista Vaccarini. It portrays an ancient lavic stone elephant and is topped by an Egyptian obelisk from Syene. Legend has it that Vaccarini's original elephant was neuter, which the men of Catania took as an insult to their virility. To appease them, Vaccarini appropriately appended elephantine testicles to the original statue.
The Sicilian name u Liotru is a phonetic change of Heliodorus, a nobleman who, after trying without success to become bishop of the city, became a sorcerer and was therefore condemned to the stake. Legend has it that Heliodorus himself was the sculptor of the lava elephant and that he used to magically ride it in his fantastic travels from Catania to Constantinople. Another legend has it that Heliodorus was able to transform himself into an elephant.
The presence of an elephant in the millenary history of Catania is surely connected to both zooarcheology and popular creeds. In fact, the prehistoric fauna of Sicily from the Upper Paleolithic, included dwarf elephants. Paleontologist Othenio Abel suggested that the presence of dwarf elephants in Sicily may be the origin of the legend of the Cyclops. Ancient Greeks, after finding the skulls of dwarf elephants, about twice the size of a human skull, with a large central nasal cavity (mistaken for a large single eye-socket) supposed that they were skulls of giants with a single eye.
The Catanian Museum of Mineralogy, Paleonthology and Vulcanology holds the integral unburied skeleton of an Elephas falconeri in an excellent state of conservation. The first inhabitants of Etna molded such lavic artifact to idolize the mythical proboscidian.
Catania has a unique cuisine, with strong Sicilian traits. Dishes such as Pasta alla Norma are from the city. Pasta alla Norma is a pasta dish made out of macaroni-like penne, tomato sauce, largely sliced aubergines, and often topped with salty ricotta, or ricotta salata in Italian. Granita, a popular flavoured sherbet, is believed to hail from the city too. Blood oranges, such as the famous tarocco, are common to the city and others. Another famous plate is horse's meat, usually cooked on coals and sold on the streets and at restaurants. In Castello Ursino's surroundings are located the most famous horse's meat restaurants with lots of different price ranges. However, the most famous and traditional food are the Arancini. It is a rice croquette stuffed with any kind of ingredients such as meat sauce, mushrooms, pistachio, smoked salmon....It has an orange colour because of the saffron used. The arancini are on sale in any Tavola Calda shop and they can be eaten at any time of the day.
Catania has a commercial seaport (Catania seaport), an international airport (Catania Fontanarossa), a central railway station (Catania Centrale) and it is a main node of the Sicilian motorway system.
The motorways serving Catania are the A18 Messina-Catania and the A19 Palermo-Catania; extensions of the A18 going from Catania to Syracuse and to Gela are currently under construction.
The Circumetnea is a narrow-gauge railway that runs for 110 km (68 mi) from Catania round the base of Mount Etna. It attains the height of 976 m (3,202.10 ft) above sea level before descending to rejoin the coast at Giarre-Riposto to the North.
Catania
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Profile of Catania (Greek: Κατάνη -- Katánē; Latin: Catana and Catina; Arabic: Balad-al-Fil or Medinat-al-Fil, Wadi Musa and Qataniyah) is the second-largest city of Sicily, southern Italy, and is the capital of the province which bears its name.
Towns and Villages in the Province of Catania - Aci Bonaccorsi | Aci Castello | Aci Catena | Aci Sant'Antonio | Acireale | Adrano | Belpasso | Biancavilla | Bronte | Calatabiano | Caltagirone | Camporotondo Etneo | Castel di Judica | Castiglione di Sicilia | Catania | Fiumefreddo di Sicilia | Giarre | Grammichele | Gravina di Catania | Licodia Eubea | Linguaglossa | Maletto | Maniace | Mascali | Mascalucia | Mazzarrone | Militello in Val di Catania | Milo | Mineo | Mirabella Imbaccari | Misterbianco | Motta Sant'Anastasia | Nicolosi | Palagonia | Paternò | Pedara | Piedimonte Etneo | Raddusa | Ragalna | Ramacca | Randazzo | Riposto | San Cono | San Giovanni la Punta | San Gregorio di Catania | San Michele di Ganzaria | San Pietro Clarenza | Sant'Agata li Battiati | Sant'Alfio | Santa Maria di Licodia | Santa Venerina | Scordia | Trecastagni | Tremestieri Etneo | Valverde | Viagrande | Vizzini | Zafferana Etnea
With some 306,000 inhabitants (750,000 in the metropolitan area) it has the second highest population density on the island. The city's patron saint is Saint Agatha. Catania is located on the east coast of the island, halfway between Messina and Siracusa and is at the foot of the active volcano Mount Etna.
History and Foundation
All ancient authors agree in representing Catania as a Greek colony named Κατάνη
(Katánē—see also List of traditional Greek place names) of Chalcidic origin, but founded immediately from the neighboring city of Naxos, under the guidance of a leader named Euarchos (Euarchus). The exact date of its foundation is not recorded, but it appears from Thucydides to have followed shortly after that of Leontini (modern Lentini), which he places in the fifth year after Syracuse, or 730 BCE. (Thuc. vi. 3; Strabo vi. p. 268; Scymn. Ch. 286; Scyl. § 13; Steph. B. s. v.)
Greek Sicily
The only event of its early history which has been transmitted to us is the legislation of Charondas, and even of this the date is wholly uncertain.
But from the fact that his legislation was extended to the other Chalcidic cities, not only of Sicily, but of Magna Graecia also, as well as to his own country (Arist., Pol. ii. 9), it is evident that Catania
continued in intimate relations with these kindred cities. It seems to have retained
its independence till the time of Hieron of Syracuse, but that despot, in 476 BCE, expelled all the original inhabitants, whom he established at Leontini, while he repeopled the city with a new body of colonists, amounting, it is said, to not less than 10,000 in number, and consisting partly of Syracusans, partly of Peloponnesians.
He at the same time changed its name to Αἴτνη (Aítnē, Aetna or Ætna, after the nearby volcano), and caused himself to be proclaimed the Oekist or founder of the new city. As such he was celebrated by Pindar, and after his death obtained heroic honors from the citizens of his new colony. (Diod. xi. 49, in 66; Strab. l.c.; Pind. Pyth. i., and Schol. ad loc.)
But this state of things was of brief duration, and a few years after the death of Hieron and the expulsion of Thrasybulus, the Syracusans combined with Ducetius, king of the Siculi, to expel the newly settled inhabitants of Catania, who were compelled to retire to the fortress of Inessa (to which they gave the name of Aetna), while the old Chalcidic citizens were reinstated in the possession of Catania
, 461 BCE. (Diod. xi. 76; Strab. l. c.)
The period which followed the settlement of affairs at this epoch appears to have been one of great prosperity for Catania, as well as for the Sicilian cities in general: but we have no details of its history till the great Athenian expedition to Sicily (part of the larger Peloponnesian War).
On that occasion the Catanaeans, notwithstanding their Chalcidic connections, at first refused to receive the Athenians into their city: but the latter having effected an entrance, they found themselves compelled to espouse the alliance of the invaders, and Catania became in consequence the headquarters of
the Athenian armament throughout the first year of the expedition, and the base of their subsequent operations against Syracuse. (Thuc. vi. 50-52, 63, 71, 89; Diod. xiii. 4, 6, 7; Plut. Nic. 15, 16.)
We have no information as to the fate of Catania after the close of this expedition:
it is next mentioned in 403 BCE, when it fell into the power of Dionysius I of Syracuse, who sold the inhabitants as slaves, and gave up the city to plunder; after which he established there a body of Campanian mercenaries. These, however, quitted it again in 396 BCE, and retired to Aetna, on the approach of the great Carthaginian armament under Himilco and Mago. The great sea-fight in which the latter defeated Leptines, the brother of Dionysius, was fought immediately off Catania, and the city apparently fell, in consequence, into the hands of the Carthaginians. (Diod. xiv. 15, 58, 60.)
But we have no account of its subsequent fortunes, nor does it appear who constituted its new population; it is only
certain that it continued to exist. Callippus, the assassin of Dion, when he was expelled from Syracuse, for a time held possession of Catania (Plut. Dion. 58); and when Timoleon landed in Sicily we find it subject to a despot named Mamercus, who at first joined the Corinthian leader but afterwards abandoned his alliance for that of the Carthaginians, and was in consequence attacked and expelled by Timoleon. (Diod. xvi. 69; Plut. Timol. 13, 30-34.) Catania was now restored to liberty, and appears to have continued to retain its independence; during the wars of Agathocles with the Carthaginians, it sided at one time with the former, at others with the latter; and when Pyrrhus landed in Sicily, Catania was the first to open its gates to him, and received him with the greatest magnificence. (Diod. xix. 110, xxii. 8, Exc. Hoesch. p. 496.)
Roman rule
In the First Punic War, Catania was one of the first among the cities of Sicily,
which made their submission to the Romans, after the first successes of their arms in 263 BCE. (Eutrop. ii. 19.) The expression of Pliny (vii. 60) who represents it as having been taken by Valerius Messala, is certainly a mistake.
It appears to have continued afterwards steadily to maintain its friendly relations with Rome, and though it did not enjoy the advantages of a confederate city (foederata civitas), like its neighbors Tauromenium (modern Taormina and Messana (modern Messina), it rose to a position of great prosperity under the Roman rule. Cicero repeatedly mentions it as, in his time, a wealthy and flourishing city; it retained its ancient municipal institutions, its chief magistrate bearing the title of Proagorus; and appears to have been one of the principal ports of Sicily for the export of corn. (Cic. Verr. iii. 4. 3, 83, iv. 23, 45; Liv. xxvii. 8.)
It subsequently suffered severely from the ravages of Sextus Pompeius, and was in consequence one of the cities to which a colony was sent by Augustus; a measure that appears to have in a great degree restored its prosperity, so that in Strabo's time it was one of the few cities in the island that was in a flourishing condition (Strab. vi. pp. 268, 270, 272; Dion Cass. iv. 7.)
It retained its colonial rank, as well as its prosperity, throughout the period of the Roman Empire; so that in the fourth century Ausonius in his Ordo Nobilium Urbium, notices Catania and Syracuse
alone among the cities of Sicily. (Plin. iii. 8. s. 14; Ptol. iii. 4. § 9; Itin. Ant. pp. 87,90, 93, 94).
After the fall of the Roman Empire
In 535, Catania was recovered by Belisarius from the Goths, and became again, under
the rule of the Byzantine Empire, one of the most important cities of the island. (Procop. B. G. i. 5.). It was extensively destroyed by earthquakes in 1169 and 1693 and by lava flows which ran over and around it into the sea.
The first Sicilian university was founded there in 1434.
Locational significance
The position of Catania at the foot of Mount Etna was the source, as Strabo remarks, both of benefits and evils to the city. For on the one hand, the violent outbursts of the volcano from time to time
desolated great parts of its territory; on the other, the volcanic ashes produced a soil of great fertility, adapted especially for the growth of vines. (Strab. vi. p. 269.)
One of the most serious calamities of the former class was the eruption of 121 BCE, when great part of its territory was overwhelmed by streams of lava, and the hot ashes fell in such quantities in the city itself, as to break in the roofs of the houses. Catania was in consequence exempted, for 10 years, from its usual contributions to the Roman state. (Oros. v. 13.)
The greater part of the broad tract of plain to the southwest of Catania (now called the Piano di Catania, a district of great fertility), appears to have belonged, in ancient times, to Leontini or Centuripa (modern Centuripe), but that portion of it between Catana itself and the mouth of the Symaethus, was annexed to the territory of the latter city, and must have furnished abundant supplies of corn.
The port of Catania also, which was in great part filled up by the eruption of 1669, appears to have been in ancient times much frequented, and was the chief place of export for the corn of the rich neighboring plains. The little river Amenanus, or Amenas, which flowed through the city, was a very small stream, and could never have been navigable.
Catania's renown in antiquity. Catania was the birth-place of the philosopher and legislator Charondas; it was also the place of residence of the poet Stesichorus, who died there, and was buried in a magnificent sepulchre outside one of the gates, which derived from thence the name of Porta Stesichoreia. (Suid. s. v. Στησίχορος.) Xenophanes, the philosopher of Elea, also spent the latter years of his life there (Diog. Laert. ix. 2. § 1), so that it was
evidently, at an early period, a place of cultivation and refinement.
The first introduction of dancing to accompany the flute, was also ascribed to Andron, a citizen of Catania (Athen. i. p. 22, c.); and the first sundial that was set up in the Roman forum was carried thither by Valerius Messala from Catania, 263 BCE. (Varr. ap. Plin. vii. 60.)
But few associations connected with Catania were more celebrated in ancient times than the legend of the Pii Fratres, Amphinomus and Anapias, who, on occasion of a great eruption of Etna, abandoned all their property, and carried off their aged parents on their shoulders, the stream of lava itself was said to have parted, and flowed aside so as not to harm them. Statues were erected to their honor, and the place of their burial was known as the Campus Piorum; the Catanaeans even introduced the figures of the youths on their coins, and the legend became a favorite subject of allusion and declamation among the Latin poets, of whom the younger Lucilius and Claudian have dwelt upon it at considerable length.
The occurrence is referred by Hyginus to the first eruption of Etna that took place after the settlement of Catania (Strab. vi. p. 269; Paus. x. 28. § 4; Conon, Narr. 43; Philostr. Vit. Apoll. v. 17;Solin. 5. § 15; Hygin. 254; Val. Max. v. 4. Ext. § 4; Lucil. Aetn. 602-40; Claudian. Idyll. 7; Sil. Ital. xiv. 196; Auson. Ordo Nob. Urb. 11.)
Culture
The opera composer Vincenzo Bellini was born in Catania , and a museum exists at his birthplace. The Teatro Massimo Bellini, which opened in 1890, is named after the composer. The opera house presents a variety of operas through a season, which run from December to May, many of which are the work of Bellini.
In the late 1980s and 1990s Catania had a unique popular music scene with local
radio stations. As a result of these idiosyncratic and regional radio stations Catania boasted a youth culture in which indie pop and indie rock from lesser known
international bands like. As a result of the eclectic taste in indie pop and indie rock Catania has been the birthplace of a number of dynamic and unusual independent music record labels.
The city is the home of Amatori Catania rugby union team, and Calcio Catania football team.
Transportation
Catania has a commercial seaport (Catania seaport)
in the city, an international airport (Catania Fontanarossa) to the South, a central train station (Catania Centrale) on the main lines Messina-Syracuse, Catania -Gela and Catania -Palermo , as well as the privately owned small-gauge Circumetnea railway which runs for 110
km from Catania round the base of Mount Etna. It attains the height of 976 m above
sea level before descending to rejoin the coast at Giarre-Riposto to the North.
In the late 1990s/early 2000s the first line of an underground railway was built, but never completed, under the
city, extending the Circumetnea from its stop on the north side of town to the Central Railway Station on the
southeast.
Main Sights
The symbol of the city is u Liotru, or the Fontana dell'Elefante and was constructed in 1736 by Giovanni Battista
Vaccarini. It is a manufact in lava stone portraying an elephant and surmounted by an obelisk. Legend has it that
Vaccarini's original elephant was neuter, which the men of Catania took as an insult
to their virility. To appease them, Vaccarini appended appropriately elephantine testicles to the original statue.
The Sicilian name u Liotru is perhaps a deformation of Heliodorus. A similar sculpture is in Piazza Santa Maria
della Minerva in Rome.
The city has been buried by lava a total of seven times in recorded history, and in layers under the present day
city are the Roman city that preceded it, and the Greek city before that.
Many of the ancient monuments of the Roman city have been destroyed by the numerous earthquakes.
Catania is the birthplace of the composer Vincenzo Bellini (1801). An opera house,
the Teatro Massimo Bellini is named after him and a museum exists on the site of his birth.
The city's monuments also include:
The Piazza del Duomo is attractive, lively and contains the Elephant Fountain - the symbol of the city.
The adjacent Cathedral (Duomo) is imposing and worth a visit.
The food and fish markets just below the Piazza del Duomo are a lively and colourful place to visit.
Via Etnea - the main shopping street, north of the Piazza del Duomo has most of the city's imposing building and is
busy throughout the day and evening.
Information courtesy of Wikipedia -