Catania is an Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 city on the east coast of Sicily

Sicily

Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...

 facing the Ionian Sea

Ionian Sea

The Ionian Sea , is an arm of the Mediterranean Sea, south of the Adriatic Sea. It is bounded by southern Italy including Calabria, Sicily and the Salento peninsula to the west, southern Albania to the north, and a large number of Greek islands, including Corfu, Zante, Kephalonia, Ithaka, and...

, between Messina and Syracuse. It is the capital of the homonymous province

Province of Catania

Catania is a province in the autonomous island region of Sicily in Italy. Its capital is the city of Catania.It has an area of 3,552 km², and a total population of 1,073,881 . There are 58 comunes in the province, see Comunes of the Province of Catania...

, and with 298,957 inhabitants (752,895 in the Metropolitan Area) it is the second-largest city in Sicily and the tenth in Italy.

Catania is known to have a seismic history and past, having been destroyed by a catastrophic earthquake in 1169, another in 1693

1693 Sicily earthquake

The 1693 Sicily earthquake refers to a powerful earthquake that struck parts of southern Italy, notably Sicily, Calabria and Malta on January 11, 1693 around 9 pm local time. This earthquake was preceded by a damaging foreshock on January 9th...

, and several volcanic eruptions from the neighbouring Mount Etna

Mount Etna

Mount Etna is an active stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily, close to Messina and Catania. It is the tallest active volcano in Europe, currently standing high, though this varies with summit eruptions; the mountain is 21 m higher than it was in 1981.. It is the highest mountain in...

 volcano, 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 the 14th century and the Renaissance, Catania was one of Italy's most important and flourishing cultural, artistic and political centres, including having witnessed the opening in 1434 of the first university

University of Catania

The University of Catania is a university located in Catania, Italy, and founded in 1434. It is the oldest university in Sicily, the 13th oldest in Italy and the 29th oldest university in the world...

 in Sicily. Today, Catania is one of the main economic, touristic and educational centres in the island, being an important hub of the technological industry, thus gaining the nickname of the "European Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...

".

Geography

Catania is located on the east coast of the island, at the foot of the active volcano Mount Etna

Mount Etna

Mount Etna is an active stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily, close to Messina and Catania. It is the tallest active volcano in Europe, currently standing high, though this varies with summit eruptions; the mountain is 21 m higher than it was in 1981.. It is the highest mountain in...

.

The position of Catania at the foot of Mount Etna was the source, as Strabo

Strabo

Strabo, also written Strabon was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher.-Life:Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus , a city which he said was situated the approximate equivalent of 75 km from the Black Sea...

 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.)

Under the city run the river Amenano, visible in just one point, south of Piazza Duomo and the river Longane or Lognina.

Etymology

The ancient indigenous population

Indigenous peoples

Indigenous peoples are ethnic groups that are defined as indigenous according to one of the various definitions of the term, there is no universally accepted definition but most of which carry connotations of being the "original inhabitants" of a territory....

 of Sicels

Sicels

The Sicels were an Italic people who inhabited ancient Sicily. The Sicels gave Sicily the name it has held since antiquity, but they rapidly fused into the culture of Magna Graecia.-History:...

 named their villages after geographical attributes of the locations. The Siculian word "Katane" means "grater, flaying knife, skinning place" or a "crude tool apt to pare". This name was adopted by Greek colonists. Other translations for the name are "harsh lands", "uneven ground", "sharp stones", and "rugged or rough soil". Such last variety of senses is easily justifiable since in the centuries the Metropolis of Etna has always been rebuilt and set inside its typical black lavic landscape.
Around 729 BC, the archaic village of Katane became the Chalcidian

Chalcis

Chalcis or Chalkida , the chief town of the island of Euboea in Greece, is situated on the strait of the Evripos at its narrowest point. The name is preserved from antiquity and is derived from the Greek χαλκός , though there is no trace of any mines in the area...

 colony of 'Katánē where all the native population was bound to be rapidly assimilated and Hellenized. The Naxian

Naxos (Sicily)

Naxos or Naxus , was an ancient city of Sicily, on the east coast of the island between Catana and Messana...

 founders, coming from the near coast, later make use of the primal autochthonal name for their new settlement along the River Amenanus.
Around 263 BC, the Etnean Decuman City was far-famed as Catĭna and Catăna. The former has been primarily utilized for a supposed assonance with "catina", namely the Latin feminization of the vocable catinus. Catinus hides, in fact, two meanings: "a gulf, a basin, a bay" and "a bowl, a vessel, a trough". Both explications may be admissible thanks to the city’s distinctive trait and topography. Around 900, when Catania was part of the emirate of Sicily

Emirate of Sicily

The Emirate of Sicily was an Islamic state on the island of Sicily , which existed from 965 to 1072.-First Arab invasions of Sicily:...

, it was known as gave rise to Balad-Al-Fil and Medinat-Al-Fil, the two official Catania's Arabic appellatives. The first translates "The Village or The Country of the Elephant", while second means "The City of the Elephant". The Elephant is the lavic one of Piazza Duomo’s Fountain, probably just a prehistorical sculpture reforged in Byzantine Era, an idolatrised talisman that was reputed capable to protect the city from any sort of enemies and powerful enough to keep away misfortune, plagues or natural calamities. Another Arab toponym was Qatanyiah, literally "the leguminous plants" (in Arab Qataniyy), whose feminized collective suffix is yiah. Pulses like lentil

Lentil

The lentil is an edible pulse. It is a bushy annual plant of the legume family, grown for its lens-shaped seeds...

s, beans, peas, broad beans

Vicia faba

This article refers to the Broad Bean plant. For Broadbean the company, see Broadbean, Inc.Vicia faba, the Broad Bean, Fava Bean, Field Bean, Bell Bean or Tic Bean, is a species of bean native to north Africa and southwest Asia, and extensively cultivated elsewhere. A variety is provisionally...

 and lupin

Lupin

Lupinus, commonly known as Lupins or lupines , is a genus in the legume family . The genus comprises about 280 species , with major centers of diversity in South and western North America , and the Andes and secondary centers in the Mediterranean region and Africa Lupinus, commonly known as Lupins...

s were chiefly cultivated in the Catanian Plain before the arrival of Aghlabites

Aghlabid

The Aghlabids were a dynasty of emirs, members of the Arab tribe of Bani Tamim, who ruled Ifriqiya, nominally on behalf of the Abbasid Caliph, for about a century, until overthrown by the new power of the Fatimid.-History:...

' soldiery from Tunisia

Tunisia

Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...

. Afterwards, many Islamic agronomists will be the principal boosters and those who overcropped the citrus

Citrus

Citrus is a common term and genus of flowering plants in the rue family, Rutaceae. Citrus is believed to have originated in the part of Southeast Asia bordered by Northeastern India, Myanmar and the Yunnan province of China...

es orchards in the greater part of Sicily's ploughlands.
Lastly, Wadi Musa intends the River or the Valley of Moses (Arab name of the Simeto

Simeto

The Simeto is a 113 km long river in Sicily, southern Italy. It is the second longest river on the island after the Salso , but the most important in terms of watershed and for the population of the areas near it...

 River), but this denomination was rarely used.

Foundation

All ancient authors agree in representing Catania as a Greek colony

Colonies in antiquity

Colonies in antiquity were city-states founded from a mother-city—its "metropolis"—, not from a territory-at-large. Bonds between a colony and its metropolis remained often close, and took specific forms...

 named (Katánē—see also List of traditional Greek place names) of Chalcidic

Chalcis

Chalcis or Chalkida , the chief town of the island of Euboea in Greece, is situated on the strait of the Evripos at its narrowest point. The name is preserved from antiquity and is derived from the Greek χαλκός , though there is no trace of any mines in the area...

 origin, but founded immediately from the neighboring city of Naxos

Naxos (Sicily)

Naxos or Naxus , was an ancient city of Sicily, on the east coast of the island between Catana and Messana...

, under the guidance of a leader named Euarchos (Euarchus).

The exact date of its foundation is not recorded, but it appears from Thucydides

Thucydides

Thucydides was a Greek historian and author from Alimos. His History of the Peloponnesian War recounts the 5th century BC war between Sparta and Athens to the year 411 BC...

 to have followed shortly after that of Leontini (modern Lentini

Lentini

Lentini , historically Leontini, Leontinoi , or Leontium, is a town and comune in the Province of Syracuse, southeast Sicily .-History:...

), which he places in the fifth year after Syracuse

Syracuse, Italy

Syracuse is a historic city in Sicily, the capital of the province of Syracuse. The city is notable for its rich Greek history, culture, amphitheatres, architecture, and as the birthplace of the preeminent mathematician and engineer Archimedes. This 2,700-year-old city played a key role in...

, or 730 BC.

Greek Sicily

The only event of its early history that has been transmitted to us is the legislation of Charondas

Charondas

Charondas was a celebrated lawgiver of Catania in Sicily. His date is uncertain. Some make him a pupil of Pythagoras ; but all that can be said is that he was earlier than Anaxilas of Rhegium , since his laws were in use amongst the Rhegians until they were abolished by that tyrant...

, 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

Magna Graecia

Magna Græcia is the name of the coastal areas of Southern Italy on the Tarentine Gulf that were extensively colonized by Greek settlers; particularly the Achaean colonies of Tarentum, Crotone, and Sybaris, but also, more loosely, the cities of Cumae and Neapolis to the north...

 also, as well as to his own country, 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

Hiero I of Syracuse

Hieron I was the son of Deinomenes, the brother of Gelon and tyrant of Syracuse in Sicily from 478 to 467 BC. In succeeding Gelon, he conspired against a third brother Polyzelos. During his reign, he greatly increased the power of Syracuse...

, but that despot, in 476 BC

476 BC

Year 476 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Rutilus and Structus...

, 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

Peloponnese

The Peloponnese, Peloponnesos or Peloponnesus , is a large peninsula , located in a region of southern Greece, forming the part of the country south of the Gulf of Corinth...

.

He at the same time changed the city's name to (Aítnē, Aetna or Ætna, after the nearby Mount Etna

Mount Etna

Mount Etna is an active stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily, close to Messina and Catania. It is the tallest active volcano in Europe, currently standing high, though this varies with summit eruptions; the mountain is 21 m higher than it was in 1981.. It is the highest mountain in...

, an active volcano

Volcano

2. Bedrock3. Conduit 4. Base5. Sill6. Dike7. Layers of ash emitted by the volcano8. Flank| 9. Layers of lava emitted by the volcano10. Throat11. Parasitic cone12. Lava flow13. Vent14. Crater15...

), and caused himself to be proclaimed the Oekist or founder of the new city. As such he was celebrated by Pindar

Pindar

Pindar , was an Ancient Greek lyric poet. Of the canonical nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, his work is the best preserved. Quintilian described him as "by far the greatest of the nine lyric poets, in virtue of his inspired magnificence, the beauty of his thoughts and figures, the rich...

, and after his death obtained heroic honors from the citizens of his new colony.

But this state of things was of brief duration, and a few years after the death of Hieron and the expulsion of Thrasybulus

Thrasybulus of Syracuse

Thrasybulus was a tyrant who ruled Syracuse for eleven months during 466 and 465 BC. He was a member of the Deinomenid family and the brother of the previous tyrant Hiero, who seized power in Syracuse by convincing Gelon's son to give up his claim to the leadership of Syracuse. A few months...

, the Syracusans combined with Ducetius

Ducetius

Ducetius was a Hellenized leader of the Sicels and founder of a united Sicilian state and numerous cities. It is thought he may have been born around the town of Mineo. His story is told through the Greek historian Diodorus Siculus in the 1st century BCE, who drew on the work of Timaeus...

, king of the Siculi

Sicels

The Sicels were an Italic people who inhabited ancient Sicily. The Sicels gave Sicily the name it has held since antiquity, but they rapidly fused into the culture of Magna Graecia.-History:...

, to expel the newly settled inhabitants of Catania, who were compelled to retire to the fortress of Inessa

Aetna (city)

Aetna , was an ancient city of Sicily, situated at the foot of the mountain of the same name, on its southern declivity. It was originally a Sicelian city, and was called Inessa or Inessum.-History:...

 (to which they gave the name of Aetna), while the old Chalcidic citizens were reinstated in the possession of Catania, 461 BC

461 BC

Year 461 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Gallus and Cornutus...

.

The period that 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: however, no details of its history are known till the great Athenian

Classical Athens

The city of Athens during the classical period of Ancient Greece was a notable polis of Attica, Greece, leading the Delian League in the Peloponnesian War against Sparta and the Peloponnesian League. Athenian democracy was established in 508 BC under Cleisthenes following the tyranny of Hippias...

 expedition to Sicily

Sicilian Expedition

The Sicilian Expedition was an Athenian expedition to Sicily from 415 BC to 413 BC, during the Peloponnesian War. The expedition was hampered from the outset by uncertainty in its purpose and command structure—political maneuvering in Athens swelled a lightweight force of twenty ships into a...

 (part of the larger Peloponnesian War

Peloponnesian War

The Peloponnesian War, 431 to 404 BC, was an ancient Greek war fought by Athens and its empire against the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta. Historians have traditionally divided the war into three phases...

).

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.

There is no information as to the fate of Catania after the close of this expedition: it is next mentioned in 403 BC

403 BC

Year 403 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Tribunate of Mamercinus, Varus, Potitus, Iullus, Crassus and Fusus...

, when it fell into the power of Dionysius I of Syracuse

Dionysius I of Syracuse

Dionysius I or Dionysius the Elder was a Greek tyrant of Syracuse, in what is now Sicily, southern Italy. He conquered several cities in Sicily and southern Italy, opposed Carthage's influence in Sicily and made Syracuse the most powerful of the Western Greek colonies...

, who sold the inhabitants as slaves, and gave up the city to plunder; after which he established there a body of Campania

Campania

Campania is a region in southern Italy. The region has a population of around 5.8 million people, making it the second-most-populous region of Italy; its total area of 13,590 km² makes it the most densely populated region in the country...

n mercenaries.

These, however, quit it again in 396 BC

396 BC

Year 396 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Tribunate of Saccus, Capitolinus, Esquilinus, Augurinus, Capitolinus and Priscus...

, and retired to Aetna

Aetna (city)

Aetna , was an ancient city of Sicily, situated at the foot of the mountain of the same name, on its southern declivity. It was originally a Sicelian city, and was called Inessa or Inessum.-History:...

, on the approach of the great Carthaginian

Carthage

Carthage , implying it was a 'new Tyre') is a major urban centre that has existed for nearly 3,000 years on the Gulf of Tunis, developing from a Phoenician colony of the 1st millennium BC...

 armament under Himilco and Mago

Mago (fleet commander)

Mago was commander of the Carthaginian fleet under Himilco in the war against Dionysius I of Syracuse, 396 BCE.He is particularly mentioned as holding that post in the great sea-fight off Catania, when he totally defeated the fleet of the Syracusans under Leptines, the brother of Dionysius,...

. The great sea-fight in which the latter defeated Leptines

Leptines of Syracuse

Leptines was a military leader from Syracuse, Sicily, active during his brother Dionysius the Elder's wars.Leptines was a brother of Dionysius the Elder, tyrant of Syracuse...

, the brother of Dionysius, was fought immediately off Catania, and the city apparently fell, in consequence, into the hands of the Carthaginians.

Callippus

Callippus

Callippus or Calippus was a Greek astronomer and mathematician.Callippus was born at Cyzicus, and studied under Eudoxus of Cnidus at the Academy of Plato. He also worked with Aristotle at the Lyceum, which means that he was active in Athens prior to Aristotle's death in 322...

, the assassin of Dion of Syracuse, when he was expelled from Syracuse, for a time held possession of Catania (Plut. Dion. 58); and when Timoleon

Timoleon

Timoleon , son of Timodemus, of Corinth was a Greek statesman and general.As the champion of Greece against Carthage he is closely connected with the history of Sicily, especially Syracuse.-Early life:...

 landed in Sicily Catania was subject to a despot named Mamercus, who at first joined the Corinth

Ancient Corinth

Corinth, or Korinth was a city-state on the Isthmus of Corinth, the narrow stretch of land that joins the Peloponnesus to the mainland of Greece, roughly halfway between Athens and Sparta. The modern town of Corinth is located approximately northeast of the ancient ruins...

ian leader but afterwards abandoned his alliance for that of the Carthaginians, and was in consequence attacked and expelled by Timoleon.

Catania was now restored to liberty, and appears to have continued to retain its independence; during the wars of Agathocles

Agathocles

Agathocles , , was tyrant of Syracuse and king of Sicily .-Biography:...

 with the Carthaginians, it sided at one time with the former, at others with the latter; and when Pyrrhus

Pyrrhus of Epirus

Pyrrhus or Pyrrhos was a Greek general and statesman of the Hellenistic era. He was king of the Greek tribe of Molossians, of the royal Aeacid house , and later he became king of Epirus and Macedon . He was one of the strongest opponents of early Rome...

 landed in Sicily, Catania was the first to open its gates to him, and received him with the greatest magnificence.

Catania was the birth-place of the philosopher and legislator Charondas; it was also the place of residence of the poet Stesichorus

Stesichorus

Stesichorus was the first great poet of the Greek West. He is best known for telling epic stories in lyric metres but he is also famous for some ancient traditions about his life, such as his opposition to the tyrant Phalaris, and the blindness he is said to have incurred and cured by composing...

, who died there, and was buried in a magnificent sepulchre outside one of the gates, which derived from thence the name of Porta Stesichoreia. (Suda

Suda

The Suda or Souda is a massive 10th century Byzantine encyclopedia of the ancient Mediterranean world, formerly attributed to an author called Suidas. It is an encyclopedic lexicon, written in Greek, with 30,000 entries, many drawing from ancient sources that have since been lost, and often...

, under .)

Xenophanes

Xenophanes

of Colophon was a Greek philosopher, theologian, poet, and social and religious critic. Xenophanes life was one of travel, having left Ionia at the age of 25 he continued to travel throughout the Greek world for another 67 years. Some scholars say he lived in exile in Siciliy...

, the philosopher of Elea, also spent the latter years of his life there, 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.

In ancient times Catania was associated with the legend of 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

Lucilius

Lucilius is the nomen of the gens Lucilia of ancient Rome.*Gaius Lucilius, satirist 2nd century BC. Lucilius was credited by Horace and others with originating the genre of satire.*Lucilius Junior, friend and correspondent of the younger Seneca....

 and Claudian

Claudian

Claudian was a Roman poet, who worked for Emperor Honorius and the latter's general Stilicho.A Greek-speaking citizen of Alexandria and probably not a Christian convert, Claudian arrived in Rome before 395. He made his mark with a eulogy of his two young patrons, Probinus and Olybrius, thereby...

 have dwelt upon it at considerable length.

The occurrence is referred by Hyginus

Gaius Julius Hyginus

Gaius Julius Hyginus was a Latin author, a pupil of the famous Cornelius Alexander Polyhistor, and a freedman of Caesar Augustus. He was by Augustus elected superintendent of the Palatine library according to Suetonius' De Grammaticis, 20...

 to the first eruption of Etna that took place after the settlement of Catania.

Roman rule

In the First Punic War

First Punic War

The First Punic War was the first of three wars fought between Ancient Carthage and the Roman Republic. For 23 years, the two powers struggled for supremacy in the western Mediterranean Sea, primarily on the Mediterranean island of Sicily and its surrounding waters but also to a lesser extent in...

, Catania was one of the first among the cities of Sicily, which made their submission to the Roman Republic

Roman Republic

The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...

, after the first successes of their arms in 263 BC. The expression of Pliny

Pliny the Elder

Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...

 (vii. 60) who represents it as having been taken by Valerius Messalla

Manius Valerius Maximus Corvinus Messalla

Manius Valerius Maximus Corvinus Messalla was Roman consul in 263 BC. He was the son of the distinguished Roman tribune Marcus Valerius Corvus. In 263BC, with his colleague Manius Otacilius Crassus, he gained a brilliant victory over the Carthaginians and Syracusans: more than sixty of the...

, 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

Taormina

Taormina is a comune and small town on the east coast of the island of Sicily, Italy, in the Province of Messina, about midway between Messina and Catania. Taormina has been a very popular tourist destination since the 19th century...

) and Messana (modern Messina), it rose to a position of great prosperity under the Roman rule.

Cicero

Cicero

Marcus Tullius Cicero , was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.He introduced the Romans to the chief...

 repeatedly mentions it as, in his time, a wealthy and flourishing city; it retained its ancient municipal institutions, its chief magistrate

Chief Magistrate

Chief Magistrate is a generic designation for a public official whose office—individual or collegial—is the highest in his or her class, in either of the fundamental meanings of Magistrate : as a major political and administrative office , and/or as a judge Chief Magistrate is a generic designation...

 bearing the title of Proagorus; and appears to have been one of the principal ports of Sicily for the export of corn.

It subsequently suffered severely from the ravages of Sextus Pompeius

Sextus Pompeius

Sextus Pompeius Magnus Pius, in English Sextus Pompey , was a Roman general from the late Republic . He was the last focus of opposition to the Second Triumvirate...

, and was in consequence one of the cities to which a colony

Colonia (Roman)

A Roman colonia was originally a Roman outpost established in conquered territory to secure it. Eventually, however, the term came to denote the highest status of Roman city.-History:...

 was sent by Augustus

Augustus

Augustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...

; a measure that appears to have in a great degree restored its prosperity, so that in Strabo

Strabo

Strabo, also written Strabon was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher.-Life:Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus , a city which he said was situated the approximate equivalent of 75 km from the Black Sea...

's time it was one of the few cities in the island that was in a flourishing condition.

It retained its colonial rank, as well as its prosperity, throughout the period of the Roman Empire

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

; so that in the 4th century Ausonius

Ausonius

Decimius Magnus Ausonius was a Latin poet and rhetorician, born at Burdigala .-Biography:Decimius Magnus Ausonius was born in Bordeaux in ca. 310. His father was a noted physician of Greek ancestry and his mother was descended on both sides from long-established aristocratic Gallo-Roman families...

 in his Ordo Nobilium Urbium

Ordo urbium nobilium

Ordo Urbium Nobilium is a prose text by Decimus Magnus Ausonius.It was written after a journey Ausonius took through the Roman empire between years 388 and 390.The book listed brief descriptions of the major cities of the Roman State....

, notices Catania and Syracuse alone among the cities of Sicily.

One of the most serious eruptions of Mount Etna

Mount Etna

Mount Etna is an active stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily, close to Messina and Catania. It is the tallest active volcano in Europe, currently standing high, though this varies with summit eruptions; the mountain is 21 m higher than it was in 1981.. It is the highest mountain in...

 happened in 121 BC

121 BC

Year 121 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Opimius and Allobrogicus...

, when great part of Catania 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 The greater part of the broad tract of plain to the southwest of Catania (now called the Piana di Catania, a district of great fertility), appears to have belonged, in ancient times

Ancient history

Ancient history is the study of the written past from the beginning of recorded human history to the Early Middle Ages. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, with Cuneiform script, the oldest discovered form of coherent writing, from the protoliterate period around the 30th century BC...

, to Leontini or Centuripa (modern Centuripe

Centuripe

Centuripe is a town and comune in the province of Enna . The city is located 61 km from Enna, in the hill country between the Rivers Dittaìno and Salso.The economy is mostly based on agriculture...

), 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 grain.

The port of Catania also, which was in great part filled up by the eruption of 1669 AD, 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.

Middle Ages

Catania was sacked by the Vandals

Vandals

The Vandals were an East Germanic tribe that entered the late Roman Empire during the 5th century. The Vandals under king Genseric entered Africa in 429 and by 439 established a kingdom which included the Roman Africa province, besides the islands of Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia and the Balearics....

 of Gaiseric in 440–441. After a period under the Ostrogoths, it was reconquered in 535 by the Eastern Roman Empire, under which (aside from a short period in 550–555) it remained until the 9th century. It was the seat of the Byzantine governor of the island.

Catania was under the Islamic emirate of Sicily

Emirate of Sicily

The Emirate of Sicily was an Islamic state on the island of Sicily , which existed from 965 to 1072.-First Arab invasions of Sicily:...

 until 1072, when it fell to the Normans of Roger I of Sicily

Roger I of Sicily

Roger I , called Bosso and the Great Count, was the Norman Count of Sicily from 1071 to 1101. He was the last great leader of the Norman conquest of southern Italy.-Conquest of Calabria and Sicily:...

. Subsequently the city was ruled a bishop-count. In 1194–1197 the city was sacked by German soldiers during after the conquest of the island by emperor Henry VI

Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor

Henry VI was King of Germany from 1190 to 1197, Holy Roman Emperor from 1191 to 1197 and King of Sicily from 1194 to 1197.-Early years:Born in Nijmegen,...

. In 1232 it rebelled to the former's son, Frederick II

Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor

Frederick II , was one of the most powerful Holy Roman Emperors of the Middle Ages and head of the House of Hohenstaufen. His political and cultural ambitions, based in Sicily and stretching through Italy to Germany, and even to Jerusalem, were enormous...

, who later built here a massive castle and also made it a royal city, ending the dominance of the bishops. Catania was one of the main centers of the Sicilian Vespers

Sicilian Vespers

The Sicilian Vespers is the name given to the successful rebellion on the island of Sicily that broke out on the Easter of 1282 against the rule of the French/Angevin king Charles I, who had ruled the Kingdom of Sicily since 1266. Within six weeks three thousand French men and women were slain by...

 revolt (1282) against the House of Anjou

Capetian House of Anjou

The Capetian House of Anjou, also known as the House of Anjou-Sicily and House of Anjou-Naples, was a royal house and cadet branch of the direct House of Capet. Founded by Charles I of Sicily, a son of Louis VIII of France, the Capetian king first ruled the Kingdom of Sicily during the 13th century...

, and was the seat of the incoronation of the new Aragonese king of Sicily, Peter I. In the 14th century it gained importance as it was chosen by the Aragonese as a Parliament and Royal seat. Here, in 1347, it was signed the treaty of peace that ended the long War of the Vesper between Aragonese and Angevines. Catania lost its capital role when, in the early 15th century, Sicily was turned into a province of the larger Kingdom of Aragon

Kingdom of Aragon

The Kingdom of Aragon was a medieval and early modern kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula, corresponding to the modern-day autonomous community of Aragon, in Spain...

, but kept some of its autonomy and privileges.

In 1434 King Alfonso V

Alfonso V of Aragon

Alfonso the Magnanimous KG was the King of Aragon , Valencia , Majorca, Sardinia and Corsica , and Sicily and Count of Barcelona from 1416 and King of Naples from 1442 until his death...

 founded here the Siciliae Studium Generale

University of Catania

The University of Catania is a university located in Catania, Italy, and founded in 1434. It is the oldest university in Sicily, the 13th oldest in Italy and the 29th oldest university in the world...

, the oldest university in the island.

Modern and contemporary age

With the unification of Castile and Aragon (early 16th century), Sicily became part of the Spanish Empire. It rebelled against the foreign government in 1516 and 1647.

In 1669 the city's surroundings suffered great material damage from an eruption of Mount Etna. The city itself was largely saved by its walls that diverted most of the lava into the port. Afterwards in 1693

1693 Sicily earthquake

The 1693 Sicily earthquake refers to a powerful earthquake that struck parts of southern Italy, notably Sicily, Calabria and Malta on January 11, 1693 around 9 pm local time. This earthquake was preceded by a damaging foreshock on January 9th...

 the city was then completely destroyed by a heavy earthquake

Earthquake

An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...

 and its aftershocks. The city was then rebuilt in the Baroque architecture

Baroque architecture

Baroque architecture is a term used to describe the building style of the Baroque era, begun in late sixteenth century Italy, that took the Roman vocabulary of Renaissance architecture and used it in a new rhetorical and theatrical fashion, often to express the triumph of the Catholic Church and...

 that nowadays characterizes it.

Unified Italy

Catania was one of the vanguards of the movement for the Sicilian autonomy in the early 19th century.

In 1860 Giuseppe Garibaldi

Giuseppe Garibaldi

Giuseppe Garibaldi was an Italian military and political figure. In his twenties, he joined the Carbonari Italian patriot revolutionaries, and fled Italy after a failed insurrection. Garibaldi took part in the War of the Farrapos and the Uruguayan Civil War leading the Italian Legion, and...

's expedition of the Thousand

Expedition of the Thousand

The Expedition of the Thousand was a military campaign led by the revolutionary general Giuseppe Garibaldi in 1860. A force of volunteers defeated the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, leading to its dissolution and annexation by the Kingdom of Sardinia, an important step in the creation of a newly...

 conquered Sicily

Sicily

Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...

 for Piedmont from the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies

Kingdom of the Two Sicilies

The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, commonly known as the Two Sicilies even before formally coming into being, was the largest and wealthiest of the Italian states before Italian unification...

. Since the following year Catania was part of the newly unified Italy, whose history it shares since then.

During World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 Catania was repeatedly bombed by the Allies

Allies

In everyday English usage, allies are people, groups, or nations that have joined together in an association for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out between them...

, starting from 5 June 1940, and some 100,000 of its inhabitants were moved to the neighboring villages. It was evacuated by the Germans on 5 August 1943. After the conflict, and the constitution of Italian Republic

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 (1946), the history of Catania was, like the history of other cities of southern Italy, an attempt to catch up with the economic and social development of the richer northern regions in the country and to solve the problems that for historic reasons plague the Mezzogiorno, namely a heavy gap in industrial development and infrastructures, and the threat of the mafia

Mafia

The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...

.

This notwithstanding, during the 1960s (and partly during the 1990s) Catania enjoyed a development and an economic, social and cultural effervescence. In the first decade of the 21st century, Catania economic and social development somewhat faltered and the city is again facing economic and social stagnation. This was aggravated by the economical crisis left by the Forza Italia

Forza Italia

Forza Italia was a liberal-conservative, Christian democratic, and liberal political party in Italy, with a large social democratic minority, that was led by Silvio Berlusconi, four times Prime Minister of Italy....

 administration of mayor Scapagnini in 2008.

Climate

Metropolitan area

The Metropolitan Area of Catania is formed by the Comune of Catania (298,257 inhabitants as of Dec. 2007) and by 26 surrounding comuni forming an urban belt (453,938 inhabitants as of Dec. 2007). The total population of the Metropolitan Area of Catania is therefore 752,895. The comuni forming the Metropolitan Area are:

• Aci Bonaccorsi
  Aci Bonaccorsi
  Aci Bonaccorsi is a comune in the Province of Catania in the Italian region Sicily, located about 160 km southeast of Palermo and about 10 km northeast of Catania...
  
  
• Aci Castello
  Aci Castello
  Aci Castello is a city and comune in the Province of Catania in Sicily, Italy. The city is located 9 km north of Catania on the Mediterranean coast. The primary economic sectors are agriculture and industry...
  
  
• Aci Catena
  Aci Catena
  Aci Catena is a town and comune in province of Catania, Sicily, Italy....
  
  
• Aci Sant'Antonio
  Aci Sant'Antonio
  Aci Sant'Antonio is a comune in the Province of Catania in the Italian region of Sicily, located about 160 km southeast of Palermo and about 10 km northeast of Catania....
  
  
• Acireale
  Acireale
  Acireale is a coastal city and commune in the north-east of the province of Catania, Sicily, Italy, at the foot of Mount Etna, on the coast facing the Ionian Sea. It is a diocese, famous for its churches, including the Neo-Gothic St. Peter's Basilica, St...
  
  
• Belpasso
  Belpasso
  Belpasso is a comune in the Province of Catania in the Italian region Sicily, located about 150 km southeast of Palermo and about 10 km northwest of Catania...
  
  
• Camporotondo Etneo
  Camporotondo Etneo
  Camporotondo Etneo is a comune in the Province of Catania in the Italian region Sicily, located about southeast of Palermo and about northwest of Catania...
  
  
• Catania
• Gravina di Catania
  Gravina di Catania
  Gravina di Catania is a comune in the Province of Catania in the Italian region Sicily, located about 160 km southeast of Palermo and about 6 km north of Catania....
  
  
• Mascalucia
  Mascalucia
  Mascalucia is a comune in the Province of Catania in the Italian region Sicily, located about 160 km southeast of Palermo and about 6 km north of Catania...
  
  
• Misterbianco
  Misterbianco
  Misterbianco is a comune in the Province of Catania in the Italian region Sicily, located about 160 km southeast of Palermo and about 6 km west of Catania...
  
  
• Motta Sant'Anastasia
  Motta Sant'Anastasia
  Motta Sant'Anastasia is a comune in the Province of Catania in the Italian region Sicily, located about 160 km southeast of Palermo and about 9 km west of Catania...
  
  
• Nicolosi
  Nicolosi
  Nicolosi is a comune in the Province of Catania in the Italian region Sicily, located about 160 km southeast of Palermo and about 12 km northwest of Catania....
  
  
• Paternò
  Paternò
  Paternò is a town and comune in the Province of Catania, Sicily, southern Italy.-History:The site of Paternò was settled before 3500 BCE. Its inhabitants were probably the Sicani, although it was located in mainly Sicel territory; its initial name was Inessa. The modern name derives form the Greek...
  
  
• Pedara
  Pedara
  Pedara is a comune in the Province of Catania in the Italian region Sicily, located about 224 km southeast of Palermo and about north of Catania. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 11,233 and an area of...
  
  
• Ragalna
  Ragalna
  Ragalna is a comune in the Province of Catania in the Italian region Sicily, located about 150 km southeast of Palermo and about 20 km northwest of Catania....
  
  
• San Giovanni la Punta
  San Giovanni la Punta
  San Giovanni la Punta is a comune in the Province of Catania in the Italian region Sicily, located about 160 km southeast of Palermo and about 8 km northeast of Catania....
  
  
• San Gregorio di Catania
  San Gregorio di Catania
  San Gregorio di Catania is a comune in the Province of Catania in the Italian region Sicily, located about 170 km southeast of Palermo and about 7 km northeast of Catania....
  
  
• San Pietro Clarenza
  San Pietro Clarenza
  San Pietro Clarenza is a comune in the Province of Catania in the Italian region Sicily, located about 160 km southeast of Palermo and about 7 km northwest of Catania...
  
  
• Sant'Agata li Battiati
  Sant'Agata li Battiati
  Sant'Agata li Battiati is a comune in the Province of Catania in the Italian region Sicily, located very near to Catania....
  
  
• Santa Maria di Licodia
  Santa Maria di Licodia
  Santa Maria di Licodia is a town and comune in eastern Sicily, in the province of Catania, southern Italy.-History:...
  
  
• Santa Venerina
  Santa Venerina
  Santa Venerina is a comune in the Province of Catania in the Italian region Sicily, located about 160 km southeast of Palermo and about 20 km northeast of Catania...
  
  
• Trecastagni
  Trecastagni
  Trecastagni is a comune in the Province of Catania in the Italian region Sicily, located about 160 km southeast of Palermo and about 11 km north of Catania...
  
  
• Tremestieri Etneo
  Tremestieri Etneo
  Tremestieri Etneo is a comune in the Province of Catania in the Italian region Sicily, located about 160 km southeast of Palermo and about 8 km north of Catania....
  
  
• Valverde
• Viagrande
  Viagrande
  Viagrande is a comune in the Province of Catania in the Italian region Sicily, located about 160 km southeast of Palermo and about 11 km north of Catania...
  
  
• Zafferana Etnea
  Zafferana Etnea
  Zafferana Etnea is a comune in the Province of Catania in the Italian region Sicily, located about 160 km southeast of Palermo and about 20 km north of Catania....
  
  

These comuni form a system with the centre of Catania sharing its economical and social life and forming an organic urban texture.

The Metropolitan Area of Catania should not be mistaken for the Province of Catania

Province of Catania

Catania is a province in the autonomous island region of Sicily in Italy. Its capital is the city of Catania.It has an area of 3,552 km², and a total population of 1,073,881 . There are 58 comunes in the province, see Comunes of the Province of Catania...

, a far broader administrative area that includes 58 comuni and 1,081,915 inhabitants, but does not form an urban system with the city.

Demographics

As of December 2007, there are 298,597 people residing in Catania, of whom 47.2% are male and 52.8% are female. Minors (people under age 18) totalled 20.50 percent of the population compared to pensioners who number 18.87 percent. This compares with the Italian average of 18.06 percent (minors) and 19.94 percent (pensioners).

The average age of Catania residents is 41 compared to the Italian average of 42. In the five years between 2002 and 2007, the population of Catania declined by 3.35 percent, while Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 as a whole grew by 3.85 percent. The reason of this population decline

Population decline

Population decline can refer to the decline in population of any organism, but this article refers to population decline in humans. It is a term usually used to describe any great reduction in a human population...

 in the Comune di Catania is mainly to be attributed to population leaving the city centre to go to live in the up-town residential areas of the comuni of the Metropolitan Area. As a result of this, while the population in the comune di Catania declines, the population of the hinterland comuni increases making the overall population of the Metropolitan area of Catania increase.

The current birth rate

Birth rate

Crude birth rate is the nativity or childbirths per 1,000 people per year . Another word used interchangeably with "birth rate" is "natality". When the crude birth rate is subtracted from the crude death rate, it reveals the rate of natural increase...

 of Catania is 10.07 births per 1,000 inhabitants compared to the Italian average of 9.45 births. As of 2006, 98.03% of the population was Italian

Italian people

The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...

. The largest immigrant groups come from sub-saharan Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa as a geographical term refers to the area of the African continent which lies south of the Sahara. A political definition of Sub-Saharan Africa, instead, covers all African countries which are fully or partially located south of the Sahara...

: 0.69%, South Asia

South Asia

South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...

: 0.46%, and from other Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

an countries (particularly from Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

 and Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

): 0.33%.

u Liotru

The symbol of the city is u Liotru, or the Fontana dell'Elefante, assembled in 1736 by Giovanni Battista Vaccarini

Giovanni Battista Vaccarini

Giovanni Battista Vaccarini was an Italian architect, notable for his work in the Sicilian Baroque style in his homeland during the period of massive rebuilding following the earthquake of 1693. Many of his principal works can be found in the area in and around Catania.- Biography :Vaccarini was...

. It portrays an ancient lavic stone elephant and is topped by an Egyptian obelisk from Syene

Aswan

Aswan , formerly spelled Assuan, is a city in the south of Egypt, the capital of the Aswan Governorate.It stands on the east bank of the Nile at the first cataract and is a busy market and tourist centre...

. 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

Sicilian language

Sicilian is a Romance language. Its dialects make up the Extreme-Southern Italian language group, which are spoken on the island of Sicily and its satellite islands; in southern and central Calabria ; in the southern parts of Apulia, the Salento ; and Campania, on the Italian mainland, where it is...

 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

Heliodorus of Catania

Heliodorus of Catania is a demi-legendary personage accused by his coevals of being a necromancer addicted to witchcraft.Son of a noble Sicilian family, he at first professed his Christianity, and he was even a candidate to assume the Episcopal Diocese of Catania...

 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

Paleolithic

The Paleolithic Age, Era or Period, is a prehistoric period of human history distinguished by the development of the most primitive stone tools discovered , and covers roughly 99% of human technological prehistory...

, included dwarf elephant

Dwarf elephant

Dwarf elephants are prehistoric members of the order Proboscidea, that, through the process of allopatric speciation, evolved to a fraction of the size of their immediate ancestors...

s. Paleontologist Othenio Abel suggested that the presence of dwarf elephant

Dwarf elephant

Dwarf elephants are prehistoric members of the order Proboscidea, that, through the process of allopatric speciation, evolved to a fraction of the size of their immediate ancestors...

s in Sicily

Sicily

Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...

 may be the origin of the legend of the Cyclops

Cyclops

A cyclops , in Greek mythology and later Roman mythology, was a member of a primordial race of giants, each with a single eye in the middle of his forehead...

. Ancient Greeks

Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...

, after finding the skulls of dwarf elephant

Dwarf elephant

Dwarf elephants are prehistoric members of the order Proboscidea, that, through the process of allopatric speciation, evolved to a fraction of the size of their immediate ancestors...

s, about twice the size of a human skull

Human skull

The human skull is a bony structure, skeleton, that is in the human head and which supports the structures of the face and forms a cavity for the brain.In humans, the adult skull is normally made up of 22 bones...

, with a large central nasal cavity

Nasal cavity

The nasal cavity is a large air filled space above and behind the nose in the middle of the face.- Function :The nasal cavity conditions the air to be received by the other areas of the respiratory tract...

 (mistaken for a large single eye-socket) supposed that they were skulls of giants with a single eye.

The Catanian Museum of Mineralogy

Mineralogy

Mineralogy is the study of chemistry, crystal structure, and physical properties of minerals. Specific studies within mineralogy include the processes of mineral origin and formation, classification of minerals, their geographical distribution, as well as their utilization.-History:Early writing...

, Paleonthology and Vulcanology holds the integral unburied skeleton of an Elephas falconeri

Elephas falconeri

Elephas falconeri is an extinct Siculo-Maltese species of elephant closely related to the modern Asian elephant...

 in an excellent state of conservation. The first inhabitants of Etna molded such lavic artifact to idolize the mythical proboscidian.

Classical buildings

The city has been buried by lava a total of seven times in recorded history

Recorded history

Recorded history is the period in history of the world after prehistory. It has been written down using language, or recorded using other means of communication. It starts around the 4th millennium BC, with the invention of writing.-Historical accounts:...

, and in layers under the present day city are the Roman

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

 city that preceded it, and the Greek city before that. Many of the ancient monument

Ancient monument

An ancient monument is an early historical structure or monument worthy of preservation and study due to archaeological or heritage interest. In the United Kingdom it is a legal term, differing from the American term National Monument in being far more numerous and always man-made...

s of the Roman city have been destroyed by the numerous seisms. Currently, different ancient remains can be seen and visited in the city-centre, as part of an archaeological park (Parco Archeologico Greco-Romano di Catania).

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
  Forum (Roman)
  A forum was a public square in a Roman municipium, or any civitas, reserved primarily for the vending of goods; i.e., a marketplace, along with the buildings used for shops and the stoas used for open stalls...
  
  
• Roman broken arcades
• Christian basilica
  Basilica
  The Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a Roman public building, usually located in the forum of a Roman town. Public basilicas began to appear in Hellenistic cities in the 2nd century BC.The term was also applied to buildings used for religious purposes...
  
  s, hypogea
  Hypogeum
  Hypogeum or hypogaeum literally means "underground", from Greek hypo and gaia . It usually refers to an underground, non-Christian temple or a tomb...
  
  , burial monuments and Catacombs
  Catacombs
  Catacombs, human-made subterranean passageways for religious practice. Any chamber used as a burial place can be described as a catacomb, although the word is most commonly associated with the Roman empire...
  
  
• 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

Baroque and historical churches

The Baroque city centre of Catania is a UNESCO World Heritage Site

• The Cathedral
  Catania Cathedral
  The Cathedral of Catania, entitled to St. Agatha, is a church in Catania, Sicily, southern Italy.-History:The church has been destroyed and rebuilt several times due earthquakes and eruptions of the nearby volcano Etna...
  
   (1070–1093, rebuilt after the 1693 earthquake)
• Saint Agatha Abbey (1620)
• San Placido (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
  Saint Blaise
  Saint Blaise was a physician, and bishop of Sebastea . According to his Acta Sanctorum, he was martyred by being beaten, attacked with iron carding combs, and beheaded...
  
   (1098, rebuilt in 1700)
• Church of the Santo Carcere or Sant'Agata al Carcere (1760). This temple includes the ancient jail where Saint Agatha was allegedly imprisoned during her martyrdom.
• Saint Francis of Assisi
  Francis of Assisi
  Saint Francis of Assisi was an Italian Catholic friar and preacher. He founded the men's Franciscan Order, the women’s Order of St. Clare, and the lay Third Order of Saint Francis. St...
  
   at the Immaculate
  Immaculate Conception
  The Immaculate Conception of Mary is a dogma of the Roman Catholic Church, according to which the Virgin Mary was conceived without any stain of original sin. It is one of the four dogmata in Roman Catholic Mariology...
  
   (1329). It still houses the mortal remains of Queen Eleanor of Sicily
  Eleanor of Sicily
  Eleanor of Sicily was Queen Consort of Aragon . She was the daughter of Peter II of Sicily and Elisabeth of Carinthia. She was the third wife of Peter IV of Aragon.- Early life and family :...
  
  , who decided and promoted the construction of the principal Franciscan building of Catania on the same place of the once Roman Temple of Minerva
  Minerva
  Minerva was the Roman goddess whom Romans from the 2nd century BC onwards equated with the Greek goddess Athena. She was the virgin goddess of poetry, medicine, wisdom, commerce, weaving, crafts, magic...
  
  
• Saint Benedict of Nursia
  Benedict of Nursia
  Saint Benedict of Nursia is a Christian saint, honored by the Roman Catholic Church as the patron saint of Europe and students.Benedict founded twelve communities for monks at Subiaco, about to the east of Rome, before moving to Monte Cassino in the mountains of southern Italy. There is no...
  
   (1704–1713)
• Badìa Grande e Badìa Piccola del Chiostro delle Monache Benedettine
• Benedictine Nuns' Arch (Arco delle Monache Benedettine)
• Basilica della Collegiata
  Basilica della Collegiata
  The Basilica della Collegiata is a church in Catania, Sicily, southern Italy. Finished n 1768, it is an example of Sicilian Baroque....
  
  , a notable example of Sicilian Baroque
  Sicilian Baroque
  Sicilian Baroque is the distinctive form of Baroque architecture that took hold on the island of Sicily, off the southern coast of Italy, in the 17th and 18th centuries...
  
  , whose façade was designed by Stefano Ittar
  Stefano Ittar
  Stefano Ittar was a Polish-Italian architect.-Biography:Ittar was born in Ovruch , where his father, a member of one of Italy's aristocratic families the Guidone de Hittar, had fled following a disagreement with the Grand Duke of Tuscany.While Ittar was still young his family moved to Rome, where...
  
  
• Saint Mary of Ogninella
• Saint Michael the Lesser
• Saint Michael Archangel
  Michael (archangel)
  Michael , Micha'el or Mîkhā'ēl; , Mikhaḗl; or Míchaël; , Mīkhā'īl) is an archangel in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic teachings. Roman Catholics, Anglicans, and Lutherans refer to him as Saint Michael the Archangel and also simply as Saint Michael...
  
   or Minorites
  Franciscan
  Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
  
  ' Church
• Saint Julian
  Julian the Hospitaller
  Julian the Hospitaller, also known as Julian the Poor, was a legendary Roman Catholic saint. His story is today believed by scholars to be fully legendary.-History:There are three main theories of his origin:...
  
  
• Saint Julian's Monastery
• Saint Teresa
  Teresa of Ávila
  Saint Teresa of Ávila, also called Saint Teresa of Jesus, baptized as Teresa Sánchez de Cepeda y Ahumada, was a prominent Spanish mystic, Roman Catholic saint, Carmelite nun, and writer of the Counter Reformation, and theologian of contemplative life through mental prayer...
  
  
• Saint Francis Borgia
  Francis Borgia
  Saint Francis Borgia, 4th duke of Gandía, 3rd Father General of the Jesuit Order, Grandee of Spain, was a Spanish Jesuit and third Superior General of the Society of Jesus. He was canonized on 20 June 1670.-Early life:He was born Francesco Borgia de Candia d'Aragon within the Duchy of Gandía,...
  
   or Jesuits
  Society of Jesus
  The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...
  
  ' Church
• Convent of the Jesuits
• Saint Mary of Jesus
  Jesus
  Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
  
   (1465, restored in 1706)
• Saint Dominic
  Saint Dominic
  Saint Dominic , also known as Dominic of Osma, often called Dominic de Guzmán and Domingo Félix de Guzmán was the founder of the Friars Preachers, popularly called the Dominicans or Order of Preachers , a Catholic religious order...
  
   or Saint Mary the Great (1224)
• Dominicans
  Dominican Order
  The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...
  
   Friary (1224)
• Saint Mary of Purity or Saint Mary of Visitation (1775)
• Madonna
  Madonna (art)
  Images of the Madonna and the Madonna and Child or Virgin and Child are pictorial or sculptured representations of Mary, Mother of Jesus, either alone, or more frequently, with the infant Jesus. These images are central icons of Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodox Christianity where Mary remains...
  
   of Graces
  Divine grace
  In Christian theology, grace is God’s gift of God’s self to humankind. It is understood by Christians to be a spontaneous gift from God to man - "generous, free and totally unexpected and undeserved" - that takes the form of divine favour, love and clemency. It is an attribute of God that is most...
  
  ' Chapel
• Saint Ursula
  Saint Ursula
  Saint Ursula is a British Christian saint. Her feast day in the extraordinary form calendar of the Catholic Church is October 21...
  
  
• Saint Agatha on the Lavic Runnels
  Lava
  Lava refers both to molten rock expelled by a volcano during an eruption and the resulting rock after solidification and cooling. This molten rock is formed in the interior of some planets, including Earth, and some of their satellites. When first erupted from a volcanic vent, lava is a liquid at...
  
  
• Saint Euplius
  Euplius
  Saint Euplius is venerated as a martyr and saint by the Catholic Church. With Saint Agatha, he is a co-patron of Catania in Sicily.-Biography:...
  
   Old Church Ruins
• Church of San Gaetano alle Grotte (260)
• Basilica of the Most Holy Annunciated
  Annunciation
  The Annunciation, also referred to as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary or Annunciation of the Lord, is the Christian celebration of the announcement by the angel Gabriel to Virgin Mary, that she would conceive and become the mother of Jesus the Son of God. Gabriel told Mary to name her...
  
   Mary of Carmel
  Mount Carmel
  Mount Carmel ; , Kármēlos; , Kurmul or جبل مار إلياس Jabal Mar Elyas 'Mount Saint Elias') is a coastal mountain range in northern Israel stretching from the Mediterranean Sea towards the southeast. Archaeologists have discovered ancient wine and oil presses at various locations on Mt. Carmel...
  
   (1729)
• Saint Agatha by the Borough (1669, destroyed in 1693 and rebuilt in 1709). The "Borough" (il Borgo) is an inner district of Catania.
• Saint Nicholas
  Saint Nicholas
  Saint Nicholas , also called Nikolaos of Myra, was a historic 4th-century saint and Greek Bishop of Myra . Because of the many miracles attributed to his intercession, he is also known as Nikolaos the Wonderworker...
  
   by the Borough
• Church of the Santissimo Sacramento al Borgo
• Church of Santa Maria della Provvidenza al Borgo
• Chapel of Ospizio dei Ciechi
• Saint Camillus
  Camillus de Lellis
  Saint Camillus de Lellis, M.I., was an Italian priest who founded a religious Order dedicated to the care of the sick.-Early life:...
  
   of the Crucifers
  Crucifer
  A crucifer is, in some Christian churches , a person appointed to carry the church's processional cross, a cross or crucifix with a long staff, during processions at the beginning and end of the service...
  
  
• Benedictine
  Benedictine
  Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...
  
   Monastery of San Nicola l'Arena (1558)
• Basilica of San Nicola l'Arena (1687)
• Church of Santa Maria dell'Indirizzo (1730)
• Saint Clare
  Clare of Assisi
  Clare of Assisi , born Chiara Offreduccio, is an Italian saint and one of the first followers of Saint Francis of Assisi...
  
   (1563)
• Convent of the Poor Clares
  Order of Poor Ladies
  The Poor Clares also known as the Order of Saint Clare, the Order of Poor Ladies, the Poor Clare Sisters, the Clarisse, the Minoresses, the Franciscan Clarist Congregation, and the Second Order of St. Francis, , comprise several orders of nuns in the Catholic Church...
  
   (1563)
• Saint Sebastian Martyr (1313)
• Saint Anne
  Saint Anne
  Saint Hanna of David's house and line, was the mother of the Virgin Mary and grandmother of Jesus Christ according to Christian and Islamic tradition. English Anne is derived from Greek rendering of her Hebrew name Hannah...
  
  
• Sanctuary of Santa Maria dell'Aiuto
• Madonna of Loreto
• Church of San Giuseppe al Transito
• Church of Immacolata Concezione dei Minoritelli
• Church of Sant'Agata al Conservatorio delle Verginelle
• Church of Santa Maria dell'Itria or Odigitria).
• Saint Philip Neri
  Philip Neri
  Saint Philip Romolo Neri , also known as Apostle of Rome, was an Italian priest, noted for founding a society of secular priests called the "Congregation of the Oratory".-Early life:...
  
  
• Saint Martha
  Martha
  Martha of Bethany is a biblical figure described in the Gospels of Luke and John. Together with her siblings Lazarus and Mary, she is described as living in the village of Bethany near Jerusalem...
  
  
• Church of the Holy Child
  Child Jesus
  The Child Jesus represents Jesus from his Nativity to age 12. At 13 he was considered to be adult, in accordance with the Jewish custom of his time, and that of most Christian cultures until recent centuries.The Child Jesus is frequently depicted in art, from around the third or fourth century...
  
  
• Our Lady of Providence
  Divine Providence
  In Christian theology, divine providence, or simply providence, is God's activity in the world. " Providence" is also used as a title of God exercising His providence, and then the word are usually capitalized...
  
  
• Church of San Berillo in Santa Maria degli Ammalati
• Our Lady of the Poor
• Church of San Vincenzo de' Paoli
• Saint John the Baptist
  John the Baptist
  John the Baptist was an itinerant preacher and a major religious figure mentioned in the Canonical gospels. He is described in the Gospel of Luke as a relative of Jesus, who led a movement of baptism at the Jordan River...
  
  , in the suburb of San Giovanni di Galermo
• Saint Anthony Abbot
  Anthony the Great
  Anthony the Great or Antony the Great , , also known as Saint Anthony, Anthony the Abbot, Anthony of Egypt, Anthony of the Desert, Anthony the Anchorite, Abba Antonius , and Father of All Monks, was a Christian saint from Egypt, a prominent leader among the Desert Fathers...
  
  
• Little Saviour's Byzantine
  Byzantine architecture
  Byzantine architecture is the architecture of the Byzantine Empire. The empire gradually emerged as a distinct artistic and cultural entity from what is today referred to as the Roman Empire after AD 330, when the Roman Emperor Constantine moved the capital of the Roman Empire east from Rome to...
  
   Chapel
  Chapel
  A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...
  
  
• Saint Augustine
  Augustine of Hippo
  Augustine of Hippo , also known as Augustine, St. Augustine, St. Austin, St. Augoustinos, Blessed Augustine, or St. Augustine the Blessed, was Bishop of Hippo Regius . He was a Latin-speaking philosopher and theologian who lived in the Roman Africa Province...
  
  
• Church of the Most Holy Trinity
  Trinity
  The Christian doctrine of the Trinity defines God as three divine persons : the Father, the Son , and the Holy Spirit. The three persons are distinct yet coexist in unity, and are co-equal, co-eternal and consubstantial . Put another way, the three persons of the Trinity are of one being...
  
  
• Church of the Little Virgins
• Our Lady of the Rotunda
• Church of the Santissimo Sacramento Ritrovato (1796).
• Sanctuary of Our Lady of Ognina (1308). Ognina is the maritime quarter
  Maritime Quarter
  The Maritime Quarter, or Swansea Marina, is a residential area of Swansea, Wales, UK located immediately south of the city centre shopping core. It falls within Swansea's Castle ward...
  
   and the main fishing pole of Catania. Many bareboats and umpteen smacks gather and crowd here all year round. In its close vicinities there is a cylindric tower, known as Saint Mary's Tower (Torre Santa Maria), which was restructured in the 16th century to prevent the frequent plunders of the Saracen pirates. The church is the result of the gradual modification of the Greek Temple Athena
  Athena
  In Greek mythology, Athena, Athenê, or Athene , also referred to as Pallas Athena/Athene , is the goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, warfare, strength, strategy, the arts, crafts, justice, and skill. Minerva, Athena's Roman incarnation, embodies similar attributes. Athena is...
  
   Longatis or Parthenos Longatis that existed on the steep reef. This cult was imported from a Boeotia
  Boeotia
  Boeotia, also spelled Beotia and Bœotia , is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Central Greece. It was also a region of ancient Greece. Its capital is Livadeia, the second largest city being Thebes.-Geography:...
  
  n region of Greece
  Greece
  Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
  
   called Longas from where the first Hellenic settlers of this borough probably came. After the earthquake of 1693 it was sobriously rebuilt on the same place but with a different orientation.
• Our Lady of Montserrat
  Virgin of Montserrat
  The Virgin of Montserrat is a statue of the Virgin Mary and infant Christ venerated at the Santa Maria de Montserrat monastery in the Montserrat mountain in Catalonia....
  
   (1755)
• Church of Santa Maria della Salute
• Saint Mary of La Salette
  Our Lady of La Salette
  La Salette is a small mountaintop village near Grenoble, France. It is most noted for an apparition of the Virgin Mary that was reported in 1846 by two shepherd children, Mélanie Calvat and Maximin Giraud, followed by numerous accounts of miraculous healings....
  
  
• Church of Santa Maria della Mercede
• Church of Santa Caterina al Rinazzo
• Our Lady of Concordia
• Churh of Santa Maria della Guardia
• Our Lady of Consolation
• Church of Santissimo Crocifisso Maiorana
• Crucifix of Miracles
• Crucifix of Good Death
• Our Lady of La Mecca
• Saint Cajetan at the Marina
  Marina
  A marina is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats.A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships or cargo from freighters....
  
  
• Most Holy Redeemer
• Saint Francis of Paola
  Francis of Paola
  Saint Francis of Paola was an Italian mendicant friar and the founder of the Roman Catholic Order of the Minims.-Biography:...
  
  
• Church of the Divina Maternità
• Chapel of Mary Auxiliatrix
  Mary Help of Christians
  Mary Help of Christians , is a Roman Catholic Marian devotion with a feast day celebrated on May 24. John Chrysostom was the first person to use this title in 345 as a devotion to the Virgin Mary....
  
  
• Chapel of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
• Church of the Sacro Cuore al Fortino (1898)
• Saints George
  Saint George
  Saint George was, according to tradition, a Roman soldier from Syria Palaestina and a priest in the Guard of Diocletian, who is venerated as a Christian martyr. In hagiography Saint George is one of the most venerated saints in the Catholic , Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, and the Oriental Orthodox...
  
   and Denis
  Denis
  Saint Denis is a Christian martyr and saint. In the third century, he was Bishop of Paris. He was martyred in connection with the Decian persecution of Christians, shortly after A.D. 250...
  
  
• Church of the Sacred Heart
  Sacred Heart
  The Sacred Heart is one of the most famous religious devotions to Jesus' physical heart as the representation of His divine love for Humanity....
  
   of the Capuchins
  Order of Friars Minor Capuchin
  The Order of Friars Minor Capuchin is an Order of friars in the Catholic Church, among the chief offshoots of the Franciscans. The worldwide head of the Order, called the Minister General, is currently Father Mauro Jöhri.-Origins :...
  
  
• Saint Christopher
  Saint Christopher
  .Saint Christopher is a saint venerated by Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians, listed as a martyr killed in the reign of the 3rd century Roman Emperor Decius or alternatively under the Roman Emperor Maximinus II Dacian...
  
  
• Saints Cosmas and Damian
  Saints Cosmas and Damian
  Saints Cosmas and Damian were twin brothers, physicians, and early Christian martyrs born in Cilicia, part of today's Turkey. They practiced their profession in the seaport of Ayas, Adana, then in the Roman province of Syria...
  
  
• Church of Santa Maria del Soccorso or Santa Maria della Palma
• Saint Vitus
  Vitus
  Saint Vitus was a Christian saint from Sicily. He died as a martyr during the persecution of Christians by co-ruling Roman Emperors Diocletian and Maximian in 303. Vitus is counted as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers of the Roman Catholic Church....
  
  
• Church of the Santi Angeli Custodi
• Church of the Santissimo Salvatore

Other

• Castello Ursino
  Castello Ursino
  Castello Ursino is a castle in Catania, Sicily, southern Italy.-History:Built circa from 1239 to 1250, it belonged to Emperor Frederick II, King of Sicily, and was considered impregnable at the time. In 1295, during the Sicilian Vespers, the Parliament which declared deposed James II of Aragon as...
  
  , built by emperor Frederick II
  Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor
  Frederick II , was one of the most powerful Holy Roman Emperors of the Middle Ages and head of the House of Hohenstaufen. His political and cultural ambitions, based in Sicily and stretching through Italy to Germany, and even to Jerusalem, were enormous...
  
   in the 13th century.
• Palazzo degli Elefanti
  Palazzo degli Elefanti
  Palazzo degli Elefanti is a historical building in Catania, Sicily, southern Italy. It currently houses the city's Town Hall....
  
  , designed by Giovan Battista Vaccarini. It now houses the Town Hall.
• Palazzo Biscari
  Palazzo Biscari
  Palazzo Biscari is a private palace in Catania, Sicily, southern Italy.It was built by will of the Paternò Castello family, the princes of Biscari, starting from the late 17th century, lasting for much of the following century, after the devastations of the 11 January 1693 earthquake...
  
  
• Palazzo Tezzano
  Palazzo Tezzano
  The Palazzo Tezzano is a historic building in Piazza Stesicoro, which is in the center of Catania, Sicily, southern Italy.-History:The construction of Palazzo Tezzano started in 1709 on land owned by the count and physician Nicholas Tezzano. It was later donated to the city of Catania...
  
  
• Uzeda Gate
• The Medieval Gothic-Catalan Arch of Saint John of Friars
• Ferdinandean Gate or Garibaldi Gate (Porta Ferdinandea or Porta Garibaldi), a triumphal arch
  Triumphal arch
  A triumphal arch is a monumental structure in the shape of an archway with one or more arched passageways, often designed to span a road. In its simplest form a triumphal arch consists of two massive piers connected by an arch, crowned with a flat entablature or attic on which a statue might be...
  
   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 built in Fascist-style architecture (Casa del Mutilato)
• Catania War Cemetery, a Commonwealth
  Commonwealth of Nations
  The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
  
   Graveyard located in the southern country hamlet of Bicocca
• Villa Bellini
• Catania Botanical Garden
  Orto Botanico dell'Università di Catania
  The Orto Botanico dell'Università di Catania , also known as the Hortus Botanicus Catinensis, is a botanical garden in Catania, Sicily, southern Italy. It is operated by the University of Catania botany department...
  
  
• Villa Pacini

Administrative division

The city of Catania is divided in ten administrative areas

Local government

Local government refers collectively to administrative authorities over areas that are smaller than a state.The term is used to contrast with offices at nation-state level, which are referred to as the central government, national government, or federal government...

 called Municipalità (Municipalities). The current administrative set-up was established in 1995, modifying previous set-ups dating back to 1971 and 1978.

The ten municipalities of Catania are:

• I. Centro
• II. Ognina-Picanello
• III. Borgo-Sanzio
• IV. Barriera-Canalicchio
• V. San Giovanni Galermo
• VI. Trappeto-Cibali
• VII. Monte Po-Nesima
• VIII. San Leone-Rapisardi
• IX. San Giorgio-Librino
• X. San Giuseppe La Rena-Zia Lisa-

Economy

Catania, after Palermo, is the second economic and industrial hub of Sicily. The city is famous for its mainly petrochemical

Petrochemical

Petrochemicals are chemical products derived from petroleum. Some chemical compounds made from petroleum are also obtained from other fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas, or renewable sources such as corn or sugar cane....

 industry, and the extraction of sulphur. In the year 2000, according to Censis, Catania was the 14th richest city in Italy, with a GDP of US$ 6.6 billion (€ 6.304 billion), which was 0.54% of the Italian GDP, a GDP per capita of US$ 21,000 (€ 20,100) and an average GDP per employee of US$ 69,000 (€ 66,100).

In the late-19th century and early-20th century, Catania began to be heavily industrialised, with its several factories and chimneys, often to the extant that it was compared to Southern Italy's Manchester. The economy of Catania suffered heavily from the bad effects of World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, and was marked by an economic crisis and recession that began to culminate in the 1920s. Ever since then, the city began to lose its industrial and entrepreneurial importance. By the 1930s, Catania remained a small fishing town with derelict and disused industries. However, after the destruction of World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, Catania's economy began to re-grow in the late-1950s and early-1960s. As a matter of fact, the city's economic growth was so rapid and dynamic that it was often nicknamed the "Milan of the South", or in Italian "Milano del Sud". This rapid economic growth provided a great amount of Sicilians living in the more rural areas, or smaller towns such as Enna, Ragusa and Caltanissetta to move to the city to seek new jobs.

Today, Catania, despite several problems, has one of the most dynamic economies in the whole of Southern Italy. Despite it still has a strong industrial and agricultural sector, is has a fast-growing tourist industry, with several international visitors coming to visit the city's main sights and the nearby Etna volcano. It contains the headquarters or important offices of companies such as STMicroelectronics

STMicroelectronics

STMicroelectronics is an Italian-French electronics and semiconductor manufacturer headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.While STMicroelectronics corporate headquarters and the headquarters for EMEA region are based in Geneva, the holding company, STMicroelectronics N.V. is registered in Amsterdam,...

, and also several chemical and pharmaceutical businesses. There have been several new business developments to further boost Catania's economy, including the construction of Etnapolis, a huge and avant-garde commercial centre designed by Massimiliano Fuksas

Massimiliano Fuksas

Massimiliano Fuksas is an Italian architect, born in Rome in 1944 to an Jewish Lithuanian father and Italian Catholic mother. He received his degree in architecture from the La Sapienza University in 1969 in Rome, where he opened his first office. Subsequent offices were opened in Paris and Vienna...

, the same architect who has designed the FieraMilano industrial fair in Milan, or the Etna Valley, often compared to being the Sicilian version of California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

's Silicon Valley, where, especially in the 1990s, several major TNCs, or transnational corporations set up important headquarters or offices. Nearby, just 12 kilometres from the city, is the Parco Zoo di Sicilia, or commonly known as Etnaland, a big theme park, which contains a zoo, swimming pool, aquatic centre and several rides, which is the largest of its kind in Southern Italy and attracts thousands of tourists, not only from Sicily, but also from Calabria and Apulia.
The American Naval Air Station Sigonella

Naval Air Station Sigonella

Naval Air Station Sigonella , "The Hub of the Med", is a U.S. Navy installation at NATO Base Sigonella and an Italian Air Force base in Sicily, Italy. Although a tenant of the Italian Air Force, NAS Sigonella acts as landlord to more than 40 other U.S. commands and activities. It is located west...

 that lies near Catania also provides a great economic boost for the city. Many Sicilian families rent apartments out to the American military personnel providing great income to a very low income area compared to rest of Italy. After the euro currency conversion prices skyrocketed for everyone in the area. This has been balanced out with the inception of the European Union investing a lot of money into the area for tourism and infrastructure.

Education

The University of Catania

University of Catania

The University of Catania is a university located in Catania, Italy, and founded in 1434. It is the oldest university in Sicily, the 13th oldest in Italy and the 29th oldest university in the world...

 dates back to 1434 and it is the oldest university in Sicily. Its academic nicknames are: Siculorum Gymnasium and Siciliae Studium Generale. Nowadays it hosts 12 faculties and over 62,000 students, and it offers undergraduate and postgraduate programs.

Catania hosts the Scuola Superiore

Scuola superiore di Catania

Scuola Superiore di Catania is a high excellence learning institute in Italy. It was founded in 1998 on the model of the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa.-Scuola Superiore di Catania:The aims of Scuola Superiore di Catania are:...

, an academic institution

Academic institution

Academic institution is an educational institution dedicated to education and research, which grants academic degrees. See also academy and university.- Types of academic institutions include :...

 linked to the University of Catania, aimed at the excellence in education. The Scuola Superiore di Catania offers undergraduate and postgraduate programs too.

Apart from the University and the Scuola Superiore Catania is base of the prestigious Istituto Musicale Vincenzo Bellini an advanced institute of musical studies (Conservatory) and the Accademia di Belle Arti an advanced institute of artistic studies. Both institutions offer programs of university level for musical and artistic education.

Culture

The opera composer Vincenzo Bellini

Vincenzo Bellini

Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini was an Italian opera composer. His greatest works are I Capuleti ed i Montecchi , La sonnambula , Norma , Beatrice di Tenda , and I puritani...

 was born in Catania, and a museum exists at his birthplace.
The Teatro Massimo "Vincenzo Bellini"

Teatro Massimo Bellini

The Teatro Massimo Bellini is an opera house in Catania, Sicily, southern Italy. Named after the local-born composer Vincenzo Bellini, it was inaugurated on 31 May 1890 with a performance of the composer's masterwork, Norma...

, which opened in 1890, is named after the composer. The opera house presents a variety of opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

s through a season, which run from December to May, many of which are the work of Bellini.

Giovanni Verga

Giovanni Verga

Giovanni Carmelo Verga was an Italian realist writer, best known for his depictions of life in Sicily, and especially for the short story "Cavalleria Rusticana" and the novel I Malavoglia .-Life and career:The first son of Giovanni Battista Catalano Verga and Caterina Di Mauro,...

 was born in Catania in 1840. He became the greatest writer of Verismo

Verismo

Verismo was an Italian literary movement which peaked between approximately 1875 and the early 1900s....

, an Italian literary movement akin to Naturalism

Naturalism (literature)

Naturalism was a literary movement taking place from the 1880s to 1940s that used detailed realism to suggest that social conditions, heredity, and environment had inescapable force in shaping human character...

. His novels portray life among the lower levels of Sicilan society, such as fishermen and stonemasons, and were written in a mixture of both literary language and local dialect. Francesco Longo Mancini

Francesco Longo Mancini

Francesco Longo Mancini was an Italian painter of the early 20th century who was known for his paintings of nudes. He was born in Catania where he lived part of his life. He died in Rome. He signed his paintings "F. Longo Mancini".-Works:...

 was a painter known for paintings of nudes who was born in Catania in 1880.

The city is base of the newspaper La Sicilia

La Sicilia

La Sicilia is an Italian daily newspaper based in Catania, Sicily. It is the second best-selling newspaper in Sicily.It was founded and first published in 1945, and legally registered at the court of Catania three years later.-External links:...

 and of the TV-channel Antenna Sicilia

Antenna Sicilia

Antenna Sicilia is a regional Italian television station own and operated by La Sicilia, the most important newspaper of Sicily. The most popular program of the channel, also known in Europe, is "Insieme" ....

 also known as Sicilia Channel. Several others local television

Television channel

A television channel is a physical or virtual channel over which a television station or television network is distributed. For example, in North America, "channel 2" refers to the broadcast or cable band of 54 to 60 MHz, with carrier frequencies of 55.25 MHz for NTSC analog video and...

 channels and free-press magazines have their headquarters in Catania.

In the late 1980s and during the 1990s Catania had a sparkling and unique popular music

Popular music

Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...

 scene. Indie pop

Indie pop

Indie pop is a genre of alternative rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the mid 1980s, with its roots in the Scottish post-punk bands on the Postcard Records label in the early '80s, such as Orange Juice, Josef K and Aztec Camera, and the dominant UK independent band of the mid...

 and indie rock

Indie rock

Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...

 bands, local radio station and dynamic independent music record label

Record label

In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...

s sprung. As a result, in those years the city experienced a vital and effervescent cultural period. Artists like Carmen Consoli

Carmen Consoli

Carmen Consoli is an Italian singer-songwriter. She has released 7 studio albums and 2 live albums.-Life and biography:Consoli was born in Sicily, near the city of Catania, in the small town of San Giovanni La Punta...

 and Mario Venuti and internationally known indie rock

Indie rock

Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...

 bands like Uzeda

Uzeda

Uzeda is a Sicilian math rock group founded in 1987, consisting of lead singer Giovanna Cacciola, guitarists Agostino Tilotta and Giovanni Nicosia, bassist Raffaele Gulisano and drummer Davide Oliveri. Steve Albini recorded three of their records...

 came out of this cultural milieu.

The city is the home of Amatori Catania

Amatori Catania

Amatori Catania is an Italian rugby union club who got relegated from the Super 10. They are based in Catania, they are the only professional rugby union team in Sicily. The club was founded in 1963, and play at the Stadio Santa Maria Goretti....

 rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 team, Calcio Catania

Calcio Catania

Calcio Catania is an Italian football club founded in 1908 and based in Catania, Sicily. The club has spent much of its history in Serie B, gaining promotion to Italy's top league Serie A five times...

 football team

Football team

A football team is the collective name given to a group of players selected together in the various team sports known as football.Such teams could be selected to play in an against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an All-star team or even selected as a...

 and Orizzonte Catania, the latter being a brilliant women's water polo

Water polo

Water polo is a team water sport. The playing team consists of six field players and one goalkeeper. The winner of the game is the team that scores more goals. Game play involves swimming, treading water , players passing the ball while being defended by opponents, and scoring by throwing into a...

 club, winning eight European Champions Cup titles from 1994 to 2008. Noted Italian basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

 coach Ettore Messina

Ettore Messina

Ettore Messina is an Italian professional basketball coach currently working as a consultant for Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association. He has won 4 Euroleague championships as a head coach...

 is a native of Catania. The city also hosted the first ever qualification tournament for the Rugby World Cup Sevens

1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens

The inaugural 1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens was held at Murrayfield in Edinburgh, Scotland, in April 1993. The International Rugby Board invited the established rugby union nations but also were keen to involve emerging nations in the event, recognising the fact that Sevens was providing the bridge...

 in 1992, and the associated Etna Cup, which was won by the host Sicily team. In addition, the Catania Elephants

Catania Elephants

Catania Elephants are a Professional American Football team in Catania, Italy. They currently play in the Italian Football League. The Elephants reached the IFL Super Bowl Championship game in 2010, but lost to the Parma Panthers.-External links:...

 are currently members of the Italian Football League

Italian Football League

Italian Football League is an American football league in Italy.-History:It was founded in 2008, taking over previous league's significance...

The city's patron saint

Patron saint

A patron saint is a saint who is regarded as the intercessor and advocate in heaven of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or person...

 is Saint Agatha

Agatha of Sicily

Saint Agatha of Sicily is a Christian saint. Her memorial is on 5 February. Agatha was born at Catania, Sicily, and she was martyred in approximately 251...

, who is celebrated with a religious pageantry, the Festival of Saint Agatha

Festival of Saint Agatha (Catania)

The Festival of Saint Agatha is the most important religious festival of Catania, Sicily. It commemorates the life of what is the city's patron saint, Agatha of Sicily. It takes place annually from 3 to 5 February and on 17 August...

, on 5 February every year.

Catania also hosted the 2011 FIE Fencing World Championships.

Cuisine

Catania has a unique cuisine, with strong Sicilian traits. Dishes such as Pasta alla Norma

Pasta alla Norma

Pasta alla norma is a classic pasta dish in Sicilian cuisine from Catania, an Italian city on the east coast of Sicily. It's made with tomatoes, fried eggplant, grated ricotta cheese, and basil. It is supposedly named for the opera Norma by Vincenzo Bellini....

 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

Ricotta

Ricotta is an Italian dairy product made from sheep milk whey left over from the production of cheese. Although typically referred to as ricotta cheese, ricotta is not properly a cheese because it is not produced by coagulation of casein...

, or ricotta salata in Italian. Granita

Granita

Granita is a semi-frozen dessert made from sugar, water and various flavorings. Originally from Sicily, although available all over Italy , it is related to sorbet and italian ice. However, in most of Sicily, it has a coarser, more crystalline texture...

, 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.

Transportation

Catania has a commercial seaport (Catania seaport), an international airport

International airport

An international airport is any airport that can accommodate flights from other countries and are typically equipped with customs and immigration facilities to handle these flights to and from other countries...

 (Catania Fontanarossa), a central train station

Train station

A train station, also called a railroad station or railway station and often shortened to just station,"Station" is commonly understood to mean "train station" unless otherwise qualified. This is evident from dictionary entries e.g...

 (Catania Centrale

Catania Centrale railway station

Catania Centrale is the main railway station of the Italian city of Catania, in Sicily. Along with Palermo Centrale, Messina Centrale and Syracuse it is one of the most important stations of its region. It is owned by the Ferrovie dello Stato, the national rail company of Italy.-History:The station...

) and it is a main node of the Sicilian motorway system.

The motorways serving Catania are the A18 Messina-Catania and the A19 Palermo

Palermo

Palermo is a city in Southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Province of Palermo. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old...

-Catania; extensions of the A18 going from Catania to Syracuse and to Gela

Gela

Gela is a town and comune in the province of Caltanissetta in the south of Sicily, Italy. The city is at about 84 kilometers distance from the city of Caltanissetta, on the Mediterranean Sea. The city has a larger population than the provincial capital, and ranks second in land area.Gela is an...

 are currently under construction.

The Circumetnea

Ferrovia Circumetnea

The Ferrovia Circumetnea is a 950 mm gauge narrow-gauge regional railway line in Sicily...

 is a small-gauge railway that runs for 110 km from Catania round the base of Mount Etna

Mount Etna

Mount Etna is an active stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily, close to Messina and Catania. It is the tallest active volcano in Europe, currently standing high, though this varies with summit eruptions; the mountain is 21 m higher than it was in 1981.. It is the highest mountain in...

. It attains the height of 976 m (3,202.1 ft) above sea level

Above mean sea level

The term above mean sea level refers to the elevation or altitude of any object, relative to the average sea level datum. AMSL is used extensively in radio by engineers to determine the coverage area a station will be able to reach...

 before descending to rejoin the coast at Giarre

Giarre

Giarre is an Italian town and comune on the east coast of Sicily in the province of Catania. It is bounded by the comuni of Mascali, Riposto, Acireale, Santa Venerina, Milo and Sant'Alfio...

-Riposto

Riposto

Riposto is a comune in the Province of Catania in the Italian region Sicily, located about 170 km east of Palermo and about 25 km northeast of Catania.-External links:*...

 to the North.

In the late 1990s the first line of an underground railway

Rapid transit

A rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway, metro or metropolitan railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on...

 (Metropolitana di Catania

Metropolitana di Catania

The Catania Metro is a metro system serving the city of Catania in Sicily, southern Italy and the southern most metro in Europe....

) was built. The underground service started in 1999 and it is currently active on a route of 3.8 km, from the station Borgo (North of town) to the seaport, passing through the stations of Giuffrida, Italia, Galatea, and Central Station

Central Station

-Railway stations:A central station is generally the principal passenger railway station of major towns and cities which have multiple stations, or a station owned by a railway with "Central" in its name, such as the English Great Central Railway....

. First line is planned to extend from the satellite city of Paternò

Paternò

Paternò is a town and comune in the Province of Catania, Sicily, southern Italy.-History:The site of Paternò was settled before 3500 BCE. Its inhabitants were probably the Sicani, although it was located in mainly Sicel territory; its initial name was Inessa. The modern name derives form the Greek...

 to Fontanarossa Airport. Segments Borgo-Nesima (extending the underground railway from the station Borgo to the suburban area

Suburb

The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...

 of Nesima) and Galatea-Stesicoro (extending the underground railway from the station Galatea to Piazza Stesicoro, in the heart of town) are currently under construction.

Twin towns – sister cities

Catania is twinned

Town twinning

Twin towns and sister cities are two of many terms used to describe the cooperative agreements between towns, cities, and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.- Terminology :...

 with:
Phoenix

Phoenix, Arizona

Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...

, USA Grenoble

Grenoble

Grenoble is a city in southeastern France, at the foot of the French Alps where the river Drac joins the Isère. Located in the Rhône-Alpes region, Grenoble is the capital of the department of Isère...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, since 1961 Ottawa

Ottawa

Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 Oświęcim

Oswiecim

Oświęcim is a town in the Lesser Poland province of southern Poland, situated west of Kraków, near the confluence of the rivers Vistula and Soła.- History :...

, Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

, since 2010 (in German language Auschwitz)

Sources

• This article incorporates some information taken from http://www.hostkingdom.net/ with permission.
• Other material is translated from the Italian Wikipedia
  Italian Wikipedia
  The Italian Wikipedia is the Italian-language edition of Wikipedia. This edition was created on May 11, 2001 and first edited on June 11, 2001. As of 2011 it has over articles and more than registered accounts...
  
  site.

External links

• Catania City Official web site
• Catania Metropolitan Area (Hinterland) from ANCI (Associazione Nazionale Comuni Italiani, Italian National Association of Comuni)
• Catania Greco and Roman Archaeological Park from Sicilian Region official web site
• Province of Catania Official web site