Catania is situated on the eastern coast of the island, at the foot of the Etna volcano (the highest in Europe)
and half way between the cities of Messina and Syracuse. The town centre has been declared a World Heritage
Site, together with the seven municipalities of the valley of Noto, since 2002.
All the ancient monuments have been comprised within the urban fabric, reconstructed through the work of
Giovan Battista Vaccarini, who gave the city a distinct Baroque imprint.
Via dei Crociferi is possibly the most beautiful street of
eighteenth-century Catania. Flanked by churches,
monasteries and just a few private dwellings, it is a rarely fine example of Sicilian Baroque. At the
end of the street is Villa Cerami, the premises of the Faculty of
Jurisprudence of the University of Catania.
The city is crossed from north to south by the Via Etnea, considered
the drawing room of the city, with the
looming profile of Etna as a backdrop. Starting from Piazza Duomo,
where we find the Palazzo degli Elefanti
and the Amenano Fountain, we can admire the
Palazzo dell'Università,
Palazzo Sangiuliano, the Basilica
Collegiata, the Church of the Minoriti,
the monument to Vincenzo Bellini (in Piazza Stesicoro) and the
villa of the famous composer. Also in Piazza Stesicoro, approximately 10 metres below street level, are
the excavations of the Roman Amphitheatre.
There are not many remains of Roman Catania: the Odeon,
the Roman Theatre, the various Baths, the
Terme dell'Indirizzo, Terme della
Rotonda and the Terme Achilliane, the remains of an aqueduct
in the Gioieni park and several funerary edifices.
Catania houses five permanent museums: that of the Ursino Castle
(Museo civico - collections of the Biscari and the Benedettini), the Emilio
Greco, the Museum of the Botanical Garden, the
Museo Civico Belliniano (in the home of Vincenzo Bellini) and
the House-Museum of Giovanni Verga.
The city has a particularly lively night life, concentrated above all in the maze of streets around Via
Etnea and the sea front, stretching from Piazza Europa to the seaside village of Ognina. Catania also
boasts intensive theatrical activities, connected above all with the
Teatro Massimo Bellini, the Teatro
Stabile, the Teatro Metropolitan and the
Piccolo Teatro.
