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Catania is a Sicilian metropolis with a location at the foot of the great volcano Etna. The geography and geology has characterized parts of the history of the city and region, as it has changed the cityscape. Many buildings in Catania has been constructed in the volcanic black lava from Etna over time.
Geological events have repeatedly left its physical and devastating imprint on Catania, which has had to be rebuilt several times. Today’s Catania is thus the result of a tremendous amount of new construction after the earthquake that laid the city and area on gravel on January 11, 1693.
Catania’s dominant historical architectural style is the Sicilian Baroque, in which not least the city center’s many churches are built. In some places, the churches are almost standing door-to-door, and it is worth to enter and see the magnificent interiors.
Catania’s Greek and Roman past can also be seen in and around the city. Odeon, an amphitheater and a theater with up to 20,000 spectators, is situated between the fine buildings of the modern city and provides an interesting contrast to the streets of the 21st century city center.
The downtown area of Catania is manageable, so it’s a good city to see on foot; possibly supplemented by a tour bus or a mini train. You can easily walk between all the sights, and if you want to go to the sea or out in the nature, it is also not far. The dominant feature of the area is of course Etna, which is accessible as well.
The square Piazza del Duomo is Catania’s central square, and here are some of the city’s leading institutions, with the town hall and the cathedral at the forefront. This is also where Giovanni Battista Vaccarini’s famous Elephant Fountain/Fontana dell’Elefante stands.
The fountain dates from 1736 and shows an obelisk-carrying elephant, Catania’s landmark and an essential part of the city’s coat of arms. The inspiration for the fountain came from Bernini’s elephants at the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome.
The elephant in Catania was found in the ruins of the city after an earthquake in 1693 and apparently dates from the city’s Roman times. Vaccarinis renovated it in black lava stone with a white marble saddle, and on the top there is an Egyptian obelisk. At the very top is a Christian cross to protect the city from new natural disasters.
Duomo di Catania is the city’s Roman Catholic cathedral and seat of the Archbishop of Catania. The impressive church building has a long and exciting history starting with the original construction in the years 1078-1093. Back then, it happened on top of the city’s former Roman baths. The construction of the church was initiated by Count Roger I of Sicily, who had defeated the Islamic emirate on the island.
Several times over the centuries, the Duomo has been destroyed by earthquakes. The first time it happened was in 1169, when a subsequent fire meant that the church almost had to be rebuilt. History repeated itself in 1693, when a violent earthquake had its epicenter close to Catania. After this, the church was rebuilt in the current Baroque style.
You can still see traces of the former Norman church from the 11th century. This applies not least to the solid semi-circular apses, which are in the lava stone from the Roman buildings. However, the Duomo mainly stands in Gian Battista Vaccarini’s work from 1711. It was in this year that the new baroque facade was completed for the church after the 1693 earthquake. Here there are three tiers decorated with columns, where you can see St. Agatha above the entrance, among other things.
Saint Agatha is the official name of the church; Cattedrale di Sant’Agata. On the front door, you can also see scenes from Agata’s martyrdom reproduced. Agata was a virgin who lived in the 2nd century in Catania. She became a Christian and was martyred during the persecutions of Emperor Decius.
At the top of the cathedral there is a beautiful dome that was completed in 1802. The bell tower was originally built in 1387 at a height of about 70 meters. The height increased by 20 meters in 1662, when a clock was built into the tower. After the earthquake in 1693, it had to be rebuilt, and Italy’s third largest bell was hung here.
Inside the church, a beautiful church room reveals itself with a floor plan like a Latin cross. Parts of it are Baroque, while the apse dates back to the 12th century. Here are also from chapels such as St. Agatha’s. You can also see the Chapel of the Holy Cross, where members of the Sicilian part of the Aragonese royal family are buried; eg King Frederick III.
The Roman theater in Catania was already built during the city’s time as a Greek colony. It was built on the south side of the ridge where the Acropolis was located. The Romans rebuilt the theater so that it became a classical Roman theater, which happened in the 100s. The theater was built in lava stone from Etna, and it was previously covered with marble.
The theater is relatively well preserved and is believed to have been able to accommodate around 7,000 spectators. The semicircular gallery, the cavea, has a diameter of 98 meters, while the orchestra pit at the bottom of the theater measures 22 meters at its largest diameter. Today, the theater can be seen quite well, and this is due to the demolition in the 1900s of a number of different buildings that had been erected in the theater area over the years.
Basilica della Collegiata was built as a church and has served as the royal palace chapel in Catania. A chapel already stood on this site in the earliest Christian times. It was dedicated to Saint Maria dell’Elemosina, who also gave its name to the official name of the current church.
It was the kings of Aragon who, from the end of the 14th century, visited the church, which was thereby nicknamed the Royal Chapel/Regia Cappella. Following a papal decree from 1446, a priest’s college was established in connection with the church, and from there comes the nickname Collegiata. After destruction from the eruption of Mount Etna in 1669, the college had to be rebuilt, and the church was also damaged in the natural disasters of the 17th century, which hit the city with a devastating earthquake in 1693.
The present church’s beautiful and richly decorated facade was completed in 1758 according to Stefano Ittar’s design. Inside, there is an equally elegantly decorated church room, which in its ground plan forms a Lantin cross. In the particularly beautiful ceiling and dome decoration, you can see frescoes by the artists Francesco Gramignani, Giuseppe Sciuti and Olivio Sozzi.
Chiesa di San Nicolò l’Arena is one of Sicily’s largest church buildings. The impressive dimensions are 105 meters in length, 71 meters in width at the transept and a height of up to 66 meters to the top of the dome. Here was originally another church, which was destroyed by the eruption of Etna in 1669. It had been consecrated in the presence of the viceroy in 1578 and is believed to be dedicated to Saint Nicholas of Bari.
When Etna erupted in 1669, lava flows had hit the western part of Catania, where the property of the Benedictine monastery of this church was located. The new church was built from 1687 elsewhere on the Benedictine property and designed by the Roman architect Giovanni Battista Contini. The size of the church was both a symbol of power and wealth for this Catholic order and a practical measure to accommodate as large a congregation as possible in the church for the religious events that took place here. The large building was structurally a continuation of the adjacent and opulent Renaissance monastery from 1608. The inspiration for the complex came not least from Rome and from its St. Peter’s Church.
The great earthquake of 1693 put a temporary stop to construction, which only started again after a few decades. The facade of the church was continuously adjusted and changed in design, and it was not finally finished until the new Italian state confiscated the site in 1866. The church was deconsecrated during World War II and did not function as a church for many years before the Benedictines got the building back in 1989. A major restoration was then initiated.
However, the primary impression of the quite unfinished facade today comes from Carmelo Battaglia Santangelo’s design, which he submitted in 1775. Stylistically, the facade was erected in a mixture of Sicilian Baroque and neoclassicism, which can be seen, among other things, in the eight powerful columns that stands out from the facade. The same design is also seen with the three large portals with windows and balustrades that are part of the central gable. All the work was done on a grand scale, unrivaled in the city, and suited to the equally magnificent dimensions of the church behind it.
The inspiration from St. Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican is relatively clear. The columns and Corinthian pilasters and cornices form parts of the Roman architecture, and the same applies to the ground plan of the church as a Latin cross with several naves, transept and dome, side chapels and a raised chancel. The light entering through the church’s high windows and between the arches of the aisles is also very fine and gives a bright church space, where a spacious monumentality prevails. Both the altar and the church’s side chapels are worth seeing with the use of marble and a number of works of art by various artists, many of whom also worked in Rome.
The monastery behind it was built by the Benedictine order, and it is today set up as a campus for part of the city’s university. The Benedictines had come to Etna’s slopes in the 12th century, where they established their first small chapel in the area. After a volcanic eruption in the 16th century, they had left their original place and established themselves in this place in Catania. The monastery was built from 1558, and in the same year the unfinished monastery was consecrated by the Viceroy of Sicily. The monastery was built so large that it was one of Europe’s largest. The facade of the monastery buildings is in fine Sicilian baroque and partially completed in lava stone according to Giovanni Battista Vaccarini’s drawings in 1752.
The castle Castello Ursino is believed to have been built in the years 1239-1250 as one of the residence castles of King Frederick II of Sicily. The beginning of the 13th century was a troubled time in Sicily, and in 1220 Frederick II had ordered all non-royal castles in Sicily destroyed to avoid possible rebellions and secessions of parts of the kingdom. Castello Ursino was built as an emphasis on Frederick II’s royal power, and in addition, the almost impregnable residence castle was supposed to defend the kingdom’s capital, Catania.
Several different political-historical events took place over the years at Castello Ursino, which, however, lost its importance over time. This was due both to the fact that the capital and thereby the political center moved from Catania, and that new weapon technologies weakened the defenses of the castle.
After the earthquake in 1693, Castello Ursino was one of the few buildings that remained after the great natural disaster. As a result, the medieval architecture with the thick and high castle walls has been preserved to this day. The ground plan is square with castle towers in each corner. It was originally located on the coast, but lava flows and land uplift after earthquakes have moved it considerably away from the water today. Lava from the Etna volcano has also filled up the castle’s moats, which happened in the 17th century.
Today, the castle houses Catania’s city museum and a gallery of local works of art. You can thus both experience the fine building and a number of collections from Castello Ursino and from the history of the region. Among other things, a large part of the Biscari princes’ large and fine collections are exhibited here.
Teatro Massimo Bellini is Catania’s classic opera house. Named after the city boy and composer Vincenzo Bellini, it was inaugurated on 31 May 1890. The inaugural setting was Bellini’s masterpiece Norma, and one can still enjoy his works on this southern Italian stage with its beautiful audience areas.
The history of the theater building already started in the aftermath of the earthquake in 1693. At that time, it was discussed whether a kind of town theater should be built. The result was the laying of the foundation stone in 1812 for the Teatro Nuovaluce, which was to be a grandiose building in a style that would make its mark throughout Italy. Due to a lack of funding, the project stopped for several decades, and initially a smaller theater was able to open in 1822 elsewhere in the city.
In 1883, the city government found the funds to start the Teatro Massimo Bellini, and after seven years of construction it was able to open in 1890. The external architectural style is distinctly Sicilian Baroque in the style of the surrounding buildings from the late 17th century. Inside, the style is sumptuous, and centrally under the arches of the foyer stands a statue of Bellini.
In the heart of Catania lie several ruins and buildings from the city’s Roman times; among others the Terme della Rotonda, which was a Roman bathing facility. In the Roman Empire, baths were a central part of daily life and thus also in Catania. The baths were built in the century AD and were altered in the 2nd century before being abandoned in the 4th century. The name of the place refers to the construction with a large dome supported by massive pillars placed on a square space.
The ruins of the baths are today below street level. Over time, the baths had been forgotten, and a purely physical building was built on top of them. In the 6th century, an Orthodox church was built here; moreover, it later passed to the Roman Catholic Church. During the earthquake in 1693, nothing happened to the church, and the Roman buildings with fine frescoes can also be seen today.
Palazzo Tezzano is one of Catania’s impressive mansions. It was built as a residence from 1709 by Niccolò Tezzano, but after only a few years it was donated to the city of Catania, which converted it into a hospital in the 1720s.
Throughout the 19th century, the mansion was given new purposes several times. It started with financial difficulties for the hospital in 1837, which meant that part of the building was rented out to house an archive. Later, other parts were made into a courthouse, and in the years 1878-1880 the hospital moved to another location.
The large mansion was built in late Baroque architecture, and the facade is symmetrically built around a central entrance portal. The beautiful exterior contrasts with the use of black volcanic basalt and white decorations.
This palazzo was built by the Tornambene family in the 15th century. In 1505 it was sold to the nobles Alvaro and Isabella Paterno, and it stood as a residence until 1693, when it was destroyed in the earthquake of that year.
Soon after, the owner, Antonio Paterno, had the house rebuilt using the outer walls that remained. The work was created by the architects Alonzo di Benedetto and Felice Palazzotto, and an upper floor was added to their building in 1873.
Today, the mansion stands as a fine example of a residence primarily from the late Baroque, where the roof rests on the old walls from the original construction.
Palazzo dell’Università is a beautiful mansion that, like so many others in Catania, was built in the years after the catastrophic earthquake of 1693. The mansion stands imposingly on Piazza Università in three floors with a central and bell-adorned portal as a central element of the architecture.
For the mansion’s construction, designs by several architects were used; including Francesco and Antonino Battaglia and Giovanni Battista Vaccarini. After the earthquake of 1818, a further restoration was necessary, which was carried out by Mario Di Stefano. In addition to the elegant facade, the mansion has a magnificent knight’s hall with paintings by Giovanni Battista Piparo. There is also a tapestry with symbols of the ruling Aragonese dynasty.
The University of Catania was founded in 1434 by Alfonso il Magnanimo; Alfonso the Magnanimous. Teaching began after a papal approval by Eugenius IV in 1445, then with six teachers and in a building that stood on the square next to the city’s cathedral. In 1684, the university was moved to the local hospital of San Marco, which was destroyed in 1693. Three years later, construction began on the current seat of the institution.
The church of San Benedetto was built in the years 1704-1713 with an elegant decoration in a very elegant church space in the Baroque of the time. San Benedetto has a single nave decorated with frescoes by the artists Sebastiano Lo Monaco, Giovanni Tuccari and Matteo Desiderato. In the vault you can see scenes from the life of Saint Benedict. At the end of the room is the multicolored marble altar.
In addition to the beautiful and very vivid decoration in the church space, San Benedetto is famous for the Angel’s Staircase/Scalinata dell’Angelo, which is a marble staircase with statues of angels.
The Roman amphitheater in Catania was one of the city’s great theaters. It was built in the 100s and could accommodate 15,000-20,000 spectators for performances. The elliptical building is constructed in lava rock from the Etna volcano, and the theater was originally clad in marble, which was later used for the construction of Catania’s cathedral.
After the earthquake of 1693, Piazza Stesicoro was laid out, and several houses and the church of San Biagio were built on the remains of the theater, which were thereby hidden. In the years 1904-1907, excavations were carried out that exposed the part of the theater that can be seen today lying atmospherically among other of Catania’s beautiful buildings.
In its entire extent, the outer dimensions of the amphitheater were impressive, with diameters of 70 and 50 meters on the two axes, and it is thus still only a small part that can be seen now. The Italian King Vittorio Emanuele III also attended the official opening of the excavated area in 1907.
The Odeon is a theater that was built alongside the larger Roman theater located immediately southeast of the Odeon. The Odeon is a smaller stage than the Roman theater and is quite well preserved. The spectator capacity is estimated to have been approximately 1,500 and the building materials were, as in the larger theater, lava stone. Musical performances are believed to have been performed at the Odeon, and the place has probably also acted as a rehearsal stage for productions at the Roman theater.
Vecchia Dogana is an elegant old customs building that overlooks Catania’s port, where goods were once cleared in grand style. The impressive historic building is today furnished with some modern design in a futuristic design in steel and glass behind the older exterior.
The building functions as an entrance for, among other things, cruise travelers, and here there is also a general focus on gastronomy and various activities such as exhibitions.
Etna is the highest and most active volcano in Europe. With its 3,323 meters in height, it is also the all-dominant mountain in Sicily, and Etna can be seen knowledge of and of course also from Catania and the nearby areas.
Geologically, Etna lies on top of the subduction of the African continental plate beneath the European one, which provides magma from the subducted plate. This magma is viscous, yet Etna is considered a very explosive volcano. It is also believed that Etna is on its way to becoming a volcanic hot spot, which means that it may have an almost constant upwelling of magma from the ground.
Etna’s largest eruption in recent times occurred in 1669, when low flows flowed through and destroyed part of Catania. Today, Etna erupts relatively often, which happens every few years. The magma and volcano type means that some lava from eruptions explodes in small fountains from the summit crater. At other times, the lava may simply flow slowly down the sides of the volcano.
There are many different ways to experience Etna. You can enjoy the view from a distance or take a bus or car some of the way up the volcano, where the view of the area just gets better and better with the height. In summer, there are several hiking opportunities from the south side, and in winter you can ski on Etna’s sides.
Along with the well-preserved ruins of nearby Siracusa, the Pantalica Nekropolis is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is an area located in the mountains between the rivers Anapo and Calcinara. The burial site was used from the 13th century BC. to the 7th century BC, and there are believed to be around 4,000 graves here.
The preserved parts to this day are dominated by the many graves cut into the rocks themselves. They take many different shapes and sizes in the large area, which was mainly excavated between 1895 and 1910. The area is quite unique to walk around and gives a sense of this part of life around 3,000 years ago.
Noto is one of the old Sicilian cities, whose history started with the Sicilian people. The city is known from several places in Greek mythology, as Daedalus is said to have flown over it, and Hercules is also said to have been here. The city went through the same history as the area with the Roman Empire before it was conquered by the Arabs in 866. The Normans later won over the Arab rule and Noto became one of their prosperous cities.
Culture thrived in Noto, and over the centuries the city was expanded in relation to the restrictive medieval city. However, the earthquake that hit the south-eastern Sicilian area with colossal force in 1693 also left Noto in ruins, so it had to be rebuilt. The new Noto was laid out closer to the sea than the ancient Noto, and it became in every way a new city. The city plan was modern and laid out by Giovanni Battista Landolina, and several skilled architects created a unified pearl of Sicilian Baroque in the city’s streets.
Noto is on UNESCO’s World Heritage List for its fine 18th-century buildings. Among them, Noto Cathedral/Cattedrale di Noto (Corso Vittorio Emanuele) is a fine example. The church was built from the beginning of the 18th century, and it was completed in 1776. The facade is in fine baroque, and here you can see statues of saints. The interior of the church is today simple in its decoration, which is due to the fact that parts of the church collapsed in 1996, losing wall paintings. Another beautiful building is the city’s town hall, Palazzo Ducezio (Corso Vittorio Emanuele), which dates from the mid-18th century.
Syracuse is a city that was founded as a Greek colony in 734 BC when the Greeks came to Sicily. The area was already inhabited by the Sickles, but the Greek Syracuse grew rapidly, and the city became in a few centuries one of the largest cities of the time, with an importance like, for example, Athens and Sparta. The ancient Greek start was on the island of Ortigia, but Syracuse spread to the mainland and grew there. Culturally, Syracuse was also one of the leading Greek cities, and great artists and thinkers worked here.
The expanding Roman Empire conquered Syracuse in 212 BC, and the city now became the capital of a Roman province. After the fall of Rome, the Vandals came, and later it was for several centuries under the rule of the Eastern Roman Empire, for a time under Emperor Constans II, Syracuse was even the seat of government for the kingdom. This was in the years 660-668.
Taormina is a beautifully situated city by the sea between Catania and Messina on the Sicilian east coast. The area has been a popular tourist destination since the 19th century, but Taormina’s history goes back much further. The Greeks came to Sicily in 734 BC, where they founded the city of Naxos, but the Taormina area was believed to be already inhabited at that time by the Sicilians. Sicily had become a Roman province after the First Punic War, and high-ranking officials from Rome and their families built houses in the style of their Roman mansions.
At the same time, large water reservoirs were established so that Taormina, in its mountainous position, could withstand long sieges. The city was an important provincial city, but after the fall of the Roman Empire, the city changed rulers several times between not least Byzantines and Arabs. After two uprisings against Arab rule in 962 and 969, the city was destroyed. It lasted a few centuries before Taormina was colonized again, but it never regained its former importance.
Messina is the third largest city in Sicily, and it is known for its location on the Strait of Messina between the island and the Italian mainland. It was founded by Greek colonists in the 7th century BC with the name Zancle, which came from King Zanclus. Since then, Messina has been a free city and ruled by Romans, Goths, Byzantines and Normans, among others as well.
Over time, several major events have happened here, for example, the plague is believed to have arrived here on Genoese ships as the first place in Western Europe, and in 1548 Saint Ignatius founded the world’s first Jesuit college in the city. It was from Messina that the ships of the Holy League set sail from on the way to the Battle of Lepanto in 1571.
Palermo is Sicily’s old royal city and remains the regional capital with the island’s parliament. The old neighborhoods with cozy streets and squares are ideal for lovely southern Italian city walks and activities, and you can enjoy an abundance of churches, palaces and of course the old Norman residence castle.
Among the highlights of the castle and the city is Cappella Palatina, with stunning Byzantine 12th century mosaics. They originate from Roger II’s Norman buildings, which still are preserved in this neighborhood of Palermo.
Via Gelso Bianco
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Via Salvatore Quasimodo
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Via Etnea, Via Vittorio Emanuele II, Corso Italia
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C. de Agnelleria, Belpasso
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Viale Presidente Kennedy
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Via Reitano 55
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Castello Ursino (Museo Civico)
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Catania’s history dates back to the Greek colonization of Sicily, and the city started as the settlement Κατάνη / Katánē. At that time Greeks were already present in nearby Naxos, and it was from here that the city was founded. There is no certainty as to when Katán, was established, but it is believed to have happened in the year 730 BC.
According to sources, it is believed that Katán kom quickly came to trade with other Greek cities. It happened not only in Sicily, but also with places in Magna Graecia. Katánē was also an independent city for many years, which stopped in 476 BC when the Hieron ruler of Syracuse expelled all the inhabitants of the city and had them replaced by his own people from the colony of Leontini. It is estimated that more than 10,000 new inhabitants came from Syracuse and Peloponnese. On that occasion, Hieron also changed the name of the city to Αἴτνη / Aítnē, the name of the volcano immediately to the north; modern day Etna.
Αἴτνη / Aítnē’s time with a new name and new inhabitants was short-lived, forcing citizens to retreat just a few years after Hieron’s death. The properties were given back to the original owners, who again lived in their town in 461 BC.
The following decades became a flourishing period for Katánē and for many Sicilian cities in general. That time lasted until 415 BC, when Athens’s Sicilian expedition reached the island. It happened in the context of the Peloponnesian War, which spread across the Mediterranean.
Syracuse was the strongest city in Sicily, and it also became the one the Athenians fought against, while Katánē was used as a port for part of the Athens fleet. Katánē was forced into some form of alliance with Athens, and this caused a natural setback when Syracuse won the settlement with the Athenians.
In 403 BC Katánē was subordinate to Syracuse, from which Dionysus I sold the town’s citizens as slaves and left it for looting. This time lasted until 396 BC, when Carthaginian troops approached Syracuse. It came to a great sea battle off Katánē, which subsequently fell into the hands of Carthage.
Katánē again won his freedom, and through the following period the city, through diplomacy and changing alliances, maintained itself free of the struggles of the time. Incidentally, the city was the first in Sicily to receive the Greek army commander Pyrrhos, who came to fight against Rome’s growing kingdom.
In 264 BC the First Punic War broke out between Carthage and the Roman Republic. Rome had grown strongly on mainland Italy, but Carthage’s rule extended over large parts of Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, the Balearic Islands, southern Spain and the North African coast.
Catania was from the beginning an active part of the Roman Republic. It was a time of great growth, and it happened despite the fact that, unlike today’s Taormina and Messina, the city was not granted federal city status; feederata civitas. During Rome, Catania was, among other things, an important export port city.
Throughout the centuries under the changing political systems and rulers of the Roman Empire, Catania generally experienced a good time of growth. In the 300s, Decimus Magnus Ausonius thus named Catania and Syracuse as the only Sicilian cities in his work Ordo Urbium Nobilium.
However, there were also times of difficult times in the centuries surrounding the birth of Christ. In the year 121 BC the volcano Etna erupted in a major eruption, sending a lava flow over parts of the city that were partially destroyed. The extent of the outbreak caused, among other things, that the city was exempt from tribute to Rome for a period of ten years.
The Roman Empire was eventually divided into the West Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire, and with the fall of the Western Empire other peoples came and conquered the area. The same was true of Catania, where vandals plundered the city in 440-441.
Goths later established a government in the region before Catania in 535 was conquered by the Byzantine East Roman Empire, ruled from Constantinople. The Byzantine Governor of Sicily was given a seat in Catania, which emphasized the city’s status. The city belonged to Constantinople until the 8th century.
In 831 the Muslim emirate Sicily was established and its capital became Palermo. Muslims had invaded the island from 652 and overcame the Byzantine forces in the period 827-902.
In the emirate, a mixed culture was established between Byzantines and Arabs. During this time, architecture and other things were developed with the culture with which the Muslim Arabs came. Public construction was also invested and land reforms were implemented.
The turning point came in the year 1071, when Christian Roger I of Sicily overcame the Muslims, thus giving Roger the keys to Palermo. The new regent was a Norman, and thus he was a Christian with roots in the Scandinavian Vikings. Roger I had been supported by southern Italian forces who would conquer Sicily.
The first period of Norman rule was marked by religious and ethnic tolerance, but that gradually changed as early as the 12th century, when many Muslims opposed the Latin influence of the area. Specifically, the population groups were geographically separated, and Catania in that context belonged to the Christian, northeastern Sicily.
In 1194-1197 Catania was plundered by German soldiers under the King and Emperor Henry VI. In the following century, the German-Roman Empire came again to influence the city; This time, among other things, with Frederick II’s construction of the castle Castello Ursino.
It was also at this time that Catania became a royal city unlike the diocesan government that had been established previously after the Christian reconquest of Sicily.
By 1266, the reign of Sicily had been subject to Charles I of Naples with the support of the Pope in Rome. The new regime came to the so-called Sicilian wasps, the name of a rebellion that took place in 1282. The background of the Vespers is the power struggle that took place between the German-Roman Empire in the form of the ruling Hohenstaufers and the Pope.
The rebellion The Sicilian Vesper broke out in Palermo, but Catania was also among the most important places during the rebellion that led the King of Aragon to take over as Peter I of Sicily; the ceremony itself took place in precisely Catania.
However, the battle between the Aragonese and the victorious Angusians who had supported the Pope was not over. Catania was elected by the Aragons as a royal city and also as the seat of the regional parliament.
The old Vesper dispute ended in 1347, when an agreement was made that incorporated Sicily into the Crown of Aragon. This led to a relative decline for Catania, whose status as political capital lapsed with the agreement.
In the early 16th century, Castile and Aragon were united, making Sicily part of the Spanish empire. This made political power even further away from Catania and the rest of the island. It revolted both in 1516 and in 1647.
However, the biggest and most devastating event of the centuries for Catania first occurred in 1669 and in 1693. In 1669, the Etna volcano erupted in the largest eruption since the year 122 BC. The eruption started on March 11, and a lava flow flooded, destroying ten villages over the following weeks.
On April 15, the lava reached Catania’s city walls, which proved so strong that much of the lava flow was diverted to the sea, and thus the city’s port was almost completely filled. However, a part of the city wall succumbed, and the lava destroyed some houses before it solidified.
In 1693, a new disaster occurred in the form of an earthquake that struck large parts of the Sicilian east coast, and thereby also Catania. It is estimated that about one-third or 60,000 inhabitants lost their lives in the quake. Colossal building damage was also a result and the city had to be rebuilt.
In the wake of the earthquake, Catania was rebuilt in the so-called Sicilian Baroque, which clearly puts its mark on the city to this day. The building materials were largely the lava from Etna.
18th century and the first half of the 19th century was a period without significant development in Catania. Politically, the city became more important in the 19th century in terms of its new provincial capital status.
In the middle of Italy, a united Italy also came closer, and Catania and Sicily also entered into it. was ruled by bourbons.
Garibaldi successfully conquered Sicily, thus paving the way for the whole of Italy. Catania became part of the new country in 1861.
During World War II, Catania was exposed to several bombings. They started on June 5, 1940, and in total about 100,000 of the town’s inhabitants had to be evacuated to nearby villages due to the bombs. On August 5, 1943, the Germans evacuated Catania, and instead a British army arrived.
After the end of World War II, Catania and the rest of the country became part of the new Italian republic, which later became one of the founders of what later led to the European Union. Throughout the latter half of the 20th century, Catania experienced changing times of growth and stagnation, respectively, which were in contrast to the economically stronger Northern Italy.
Today, Catania is a city that, among other things, caters to many cruise tourists, who will, among other things, take a closer look at the city’s beautiful Baroque buildings, atmosphere and proximity to historical settlement and the majestic volcano Etna.
Catania, Italy[/caption]
Overview of Catania
Catania is a Sicilian metropolis with a location at the foot of the great volcano Etna. The geography and geology has characterized parts of the history of the city and region, as it has changed the cityscape. Many buildings in Catania has been constructed in the volcanic black lava from Etna over time.
Geological events have repeatedly left its physical and devastating imprint on Catania, which has had to be rebuilt several times. Today’s Catania is thus the result of a tremendous amount of new construction after the earthquake that laid the city and area on gravel on January 11, 1693.
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Teatro Massimo Bellini is Catania’s classic opera house. Named after the city boy and composer Vincenzo Bellini, it was inaugurated on 31 May 1890. The inaugural setting was Bellini’s masterpiece Norma, and one can still enjoy his works on this southern Italian stage with its beautiful audience areas.
The history of the theater building already started in the aftermath of the earthquake in 1693. At that time, it was discussed whether a kind of town theater should be built. The result was the laying of the foundation stone in 1812 for the Teatro Nuovaluce, which was to be a grandiose building in a style that would make its mark throughout Italy. Due to a lack of funding, the project stopped for several decades, and initially a smaller theater was able to open in 1822 elsewhere in the city.
In 1883, the city government found the funds to start the Teatro Massimo Bellini, and after seven years of construction it was able to open in 1890. The external architectural style is distinctly Sicilian Baroque in the style of the surrounding buildings from the late 17th century. Inside, the style is sumptuous, and centrally under the arches of the foyer stands a statue of Bellini.
In the heart of Catania lie several ruins and buildings from the city’s Roman times; among others the Terme della Rotonda, which was a Roman bathing facility. In the Roman Empire, baths were a central part of daily life and thus also in Catania. The baths were built in the century AD and were altered in the 2nd century before being abandoned in the 4th century. The name of the place refers to the construction with a large dome supported by massive pillars placed on a square space.
The ruins of the baths are today below street level. Over time, the baths had been forgotten, and a purely physical building was built on top of them. In the 6th century, an Orthodox church was built here; moreover, it later passed to the Roman Catholic Church. During the earthquake in 1693, nothing happened to the church, and the Roman buildings with fine frescoes can also be seen today.
Palazzo Tezzano is one of Catania’s impressive mansions. It was built as a residence from 1709 by Niccolò Tezzano, but after only a few years it was donated to the city of Catania, which converted it into a hospital in the 1720s.
Throughout the 19th century, the mansion was given new purposes several times. It started with financial difficulties for the hospital in 1837, which meant that part of the building was rented out to house an archive. Later, other parts were made into a courthouse, and in the years 1878-1880 the hospital moved to another location.
The large mansion was built in late Baroque architecture, and the facade is symmetrically built around a central entrance portal. The beautiful exterior contrasts with the use of black volcanic basalt and white decorations.
This palazzo was built by the Tornambene family in the 15th century. In 1505 it was sold to the nobles Alvaro and Isabella Paterno, and it stood as a residence until 1693, when it was destroyed in the earthquake of that year.
Soon after, the owner, Antonio Paterno, had the house rebuilt using the outer walls that remained. The work was created by the architects Alonzo di Benedetto and Felice Palazzotto, and an upper floor was added to their building in 1873.
Today, the mansion stands as a fine example of a residence primarily from the late Baroque, where the roof rests on the old walls from the original construction.
Palazzo dell’Università is a beautiful mansion that, like so many others in Catania, was built in the years after the catastrophic earthquake of 1693. The mansion stands imposingly on Piazza Università in three floors with a central and bell-adorned portal as a central element of the architecture.
For the mansion’s construction, designs by several architects were used; including Francesco and Antonino Battaglia and Giovanni Battista Vaccarini. After the earthquake of 1818, a further restoration was necessary, which was carried out by Mario Di Stefano. In addition to the elegant facade, the mansion has a magnificent knight’s hall with paintings by Giovanni Battista Piparo. There is also a tapestry with symbols of the ruling Aragonese dynasty.
The University of Catania was founded in 1434 by Alfonso il Magnanimo; Alfonso the Magnanimous. Teaching began after a papal approval by Eugenius IV in 1445, then with six teachers and in a building that stood on the square next to the city’s cathedral. In 1684, the university was moved to the local hospital of San Marco, which was destroyed in 1693. Three years later, construction began on the current seat of the institution.
The church of San Benedetto was built in the years 1704-1713 with an elegant decoration in a very elegant church space in the Baroque of the time. San Benedetto has a single nave decorated with frescoes by the artists Sebastiano Lo Monaco, Giovanni Tuccari and Matteo Desiderato. In the vault you can see scenes from the life of Saint Benedict. At the end of the room is the multicolored marble altar.
In addition to the beautiful and very vivid decoration in the church space, San Benedetto is famous for the Angel’s Staircase/Scalinata dell’Angelo, which is a marble staircase with statues of angels.
The Roman amphitheater in Catania was one of the city’s great theaters. It was built in the 100s and could accommodate 15,000-20,000 spectators for performances. The elliptical building is constructed in lava rock from the Etna volcano, and the theater was originally clad in marble, which was later used for the construction of Catania’s cathedral.
After the earthquake of 1693, Piazza Stesicoro was laid out, and several houses and the church of San Biagio were built on the remains of the theater, which were thereby hidden. In the years 1904-1907, excavations were carried out that exposed the part of the theater that can be seen today lying atmospherically among other of Catania’s beautiful buildings.
In its entire extent, the outer dimensions of the amphitheater were impressive, with diameters of 70 and 50 meters on the two axes, and it is thus still only a small part that can be seen now. The Italian King Vittorio Emanuele III also attended the official opening of the excavated area in 1907.
The Odeon is a theater that was built alongside the larger Roman theater located immediately southeast of the Odeon. The Odeon is a smaller stage than the Roman theater and is quite well preserved. The spectator capacity is estimated to have been approximately 1,500 and the building materials were, as in the larger theater, lava stone. Musical performances are believed to have been performed at the Odeon, and the place has probably also acted as a rehearsal stage for productions at the Roman theater.
Vecchia Dogana is an elegant old customs building that overlooks Catania’s port, where goods were once cleared in grand style. The impressive historic building is today furnished with some modern design in a futuristic design in steel and glass behind the older exterior.
The building functions as an entrance for, among other things, cruise travelers, and here there is also a general focus on gastronomy and various activities such as exhibitions.
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