Catania (population 310,000 city, 740,000 metropolitan area) is Sicily's second city and the most dynamic and the most culturally vibrant city on the east coast of the island. Built largely from the dark grey basalt lava of nearby Mount Etna (the most active volcano in Europe and the tallest volcano in Italy, at 3,357m), Catania has a dramatic and instantly recognisable architectural character — the Baroque city rebuilt after the devastating 1693 earthquake (the most destructive natural disaster in Sicilian history, killing 60,000 people) was constructed almost entirely in the dark Etna lava stone and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (as part of the "Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto"). The city's symbol is the Fontana dell'Elefante in the Piazza del Duomo — the lava elephant with the ancient Egyptian obelisk on its back (the elephant is the most important symbol of Catania: the most ancient civic symbol in Sicily). Mount Etna dominates the skyline and the daily life of the city, and the most important gastronomic tradition in Sicily (the arancino, the granita, the ricotta-filled cannoli and the most important fish market in the Mediterranean — the "La Pescheria") all come from or are centred on Catania.
La Pescheria (the Catania fish market — the most important and most atmospheric fish market in the Mediterranean, and one of the most important markets in Italy): the daily morning market (Monday–Saturday from 07:00) in the Piazza Alonzo di Benedetto and the Via Pardo behind the Cathedral. The swordfish (Xiphias gladius — the most important fish in the Catania-Messina Strait fishing tradition: the "pesce spada" is caught using the most traditional method in the Mediterranean — the "ficulina" (the traditional Sicilian swordfish fishing boat with the 40m telescopic observation mast from which the lookout spots the swordfish in the clear blue water of the Strait of Messina): the fishing method that has been used in the Strait of Messina for over 3,000 years). The bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus — the most prized fish in the Mediterranean: the "mattanza" (the traditional Sicilian bluefin tuna trap — the most dramatic and the most ancient fishing event in the Mediterranean: the circular trap of nets (the "camera della morte" — the "death chamber") in which the tuna are herded and then killed with harpoons in a ceremony observed since the Phoenician period) is now rarely practised but the bluefin tuna remains the most culturally important fish in the Catania tradition).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuidePiazza del Duomo (the most beautiful Baroque square in Sicily — the heart of Catania and the UNESCO World Heritage site): the Fontana dell'Elefante (1736 — the most important fountain in Sicily: designed by Giovanni Battista Vaccarini (1702–1768), the most important Baroque architect in Catania after the 1693 earthquake): the black lava elephant (the "liotru" — the Catanese nickname for the elephant, from the name of the legendary wizard "Heliodorus" who is said to have ridden a black elephant through the streets of ancient Catania) supporting the ancient Egyptian obelisk (from Heliopolis in Egypt — brought to Catania in the Roman period: the most ancient single object in the Piazza del Duomo). The Cathedral of Sant'Agata (the most important church in Catania — built 1078–1093 by Count Roger I of Sicily on the site of the Roman baths: rebuilt in Baroque after the 1693 earthquake with the most important Baroque facade in Catania (designed by Giovanni Battista Vaccarini in 1736)): the cathedral contains the tomb of the Baroque composer Vincenzo Bellini (1801–1835 — the most famous musical son of Catania: the composer of "Norma", "La sonnambula" and "I Puritani" — the most important bel canto operas of the 19th century).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideGranita e brioche (the most important Sicilian food experience — and the most important breakfast in Sicily): the granita (the semi-frozen dessert made by the most traditional Sicilian method: the mixture is frozen slowly and stirred frequently to create the most coarse and the most intensely flavoured ice crystals (the most important textural distinction between Sicilian granita and Italian sorbet: the Sicilian granita has the most crystalline and the most grainy (the "granata" texture) ice structure — the "granita" name comes from "grana" (grain or crystal) in Italian)). The most important Catania granita flavours: the "granita di caffè" (the most intensely flavoured: the espresso + sugar + water frozen to the most crystalline texture and served with the most generously whipped fresh cream (the "panna" — the freshly whipped cream from the most important Sicilian dairy (the milk from the Sicilian cows grazed on the most flavourful Mediterranean pasture))). The "brioscia col tuppo" (the most important Sicilian bread: the soft, sweet, enriched bread roll with the distinctive round topknot ("tuppo" in Sicilian dialect (from the French "toupet" — the topknot of the traditional Sicilian fisherman's hairstyle)): the combination of the ice-cold granita and the warm, sweet brioche is the most important gustatory combination in Sicilian food culture.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideVia Etnea (the most important street in Catania — the 3km straight boulevard running north from the Piazza del Duomo toward the summit of Mount Etna): the most dramatically aligned urban street in Italy (the Via Etnea is oriented directly toward the Etna crater — on clear days the active summit (3,357m) is perfectly visible at the end of the street: the most dramatic urban volcano view of any street in Europe). The Palazzo Biscari (the most important Baroque palace in Catania — the Via Museo Biscari, parallel to the fish market): the palace of the Moncada di Paternò family (the most important aristocratic family in 18th-century Catania): the "Salone da ballo" (the ballroom — the most ornate private room in Sicily: the curved oval ceiling with the most elaborate Rococo frescoes in any Sicilian private palace, painted by Mattia Preti's workshop (the most important Baroque fresco painter in Sicily)) and the "Galleria" (the long private gallery overlooking the fish market below). The Teatro Bellini (the most important opera house in Sicily — opened May 31 1890: named after Vincenzo Bellini (1801–1835) — the most famous composer born in Catania).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideMount Etna excursion (the most dramatic volcanic day trip from any European city): Mount Etna (3,357m — the most active volcano in Europe and the tallest volcano in Italy: the "Mongibello" (from the Arabic "Jabal al-Bahr" (the mountain of the sea) combined with the Latin/Italian "monte" (mountain) — the most linguistically composite place name in Sicily)): the most active stratovolcano in Europe (the most frequent and the most varied eruption activity of any European volcano: Etna erupts on average 25 times per year — the most eruptions per year of any European volcano — in the form of lava flows (the most spectacular), lava fountaining (the most photographed), ash clouds (the most practically disruptive) and pyroclastic flows (the most dangerous)). The cable car "Funivia dell'Etna" (from the Rifugio Sapienza (1,923m) to the Torre del Filosofo (2,500m) — the highest cable car station on Etna): the most efficient way to reach the upper Etna volcanic zone (the cable car covers the most challenging section of the ascent in 15 minutes). The guided trek to the Silvestri Craters (1,886m — the most accessible active craters on the south slope) and the summit crater zone (above 3,000m with a licensed volcanic guide: the most important safety requirement for high-altitude Etna exploration).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideNicolosi & the Etna lava wine tasting (the most important volcanic wine appellation in Italy): the Etna DOC (Denominazione di Origine Controllata: the wine appellation of the Mount Etna slopes): the Nerello Mascalese (the most important red grape variety grown on the lava soils of Etna — the grape that has made the Etna DOC the most internationally discussed Italian wine appellation since 2010): the Nerello Mascalese vine (the "Mascalese" — from the Mascali area of the north Etna slope: the most important traditional Nerello growing zone) produces the most ethereal, the most Pinot Noir-like red wine in Sicily (the most frequently used analogy for the Nerello Mascalese: "the Burgundy of the South" or "the Sicilian Pinot Noir" — the comparison that has attracted the most important international wine investors to Etna since 2010 (the most important "discovery" in 21st-century Italian wine)). The Benanti winery (the most historically important Etna DOC producer: founded 1988 by Giuseppe Benanti — the most pioneering producer of the Etna wine revival), the Terre Nere (the most internationally acclaimed current Etna producer) and the Cornelissen (the most provocative Etna natural wine producer: Frank Cornelissen's "Magma" is the most controversial wine in Italy).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuidePasta alla Norma dinner (the most important pasta dish in Catania and one of the most celebrated regional pasta dishes in Sicily): the "pasta alla Norma" (named after Vincenzo Bellini's most celebrated opera "Norma" (1831) — the story of the Druid priestess in Roman Gaul: the most dramatically named pasta dish in Italian cuisine (the name was given when the Catanese playwright Nino Martoglio tasted the dish in the early 20th century and exclaimed "Chista è na vera Norma!" — "This is a real Norma!" — meaning it was as perfect as Bellini's opera (the most important culinary compliment in Catanese history))). The ingredients: the macaroni or rigatoni (the most traditional pasta shapes for the Norma sauce: the ridged tubes that hold the sauce in the most effective way), the tomato sauce (the San Marzano tomato or the Sicilian round tomato — the most important tomato variety in Catanian cooking), the fried aubergine (the "melanzana fritta" — the aubergine sliced, salted, pressed to remove excess moisture, and fried in the most abundant amount of olive oil until the most golden and most crispy: the most important vegetable in Catanian cuisine), the ricotta salata (the salted and pressed ricotta cheese — the most important cheese in the Norma: the dry, salty, hard ricotta that is grated over the pasta to provide the most important salty-umami counterpoint to the sweet tomato and the rich fried aubergine) and the fresh basil.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideLate night Catania (the most vibrant late-night scene in Sicily — and one of the most energetic late-night city cultures in southern Italy): the Piazza dell'Università (the most important social square in Catania at night: the square of the University of Catania (the Università degli Studi di Catania — founded 1434 as the oldest university in Sicily and one of the oldest in Italy: the "Siciliae studium generale" (the Sicilian General School of Study) — the most ancient surviving academic institution in Sicily)). The Catania university student culture (the most important social force in Catania: the University of Catania has 48,000 students (the most students of any university in Sicily) who represent the most dynamic social force in the city — the "etneo" student identity (the identity of the Catanese student rooted in the volcanic landscape and the most rebellious urban spirit in Sicily)).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideAci Castello and the Cyclops Riviera (the "Riviera dei Ciclopi" — the most dramatic coastal landscape in eastern Sicily, 8km north of Catania): the Norman Castle of Aci Castello (the most dramatically positioned castle in Sicily: the 11th-century Norman castle built on a black lava basalt promontory jutting into the Ionian Sea — the most spectacular castle position in Sicily (the castle appears to float on the sea at high tide)). The Faraglioni dei Ciclopi (the "Cyclopean Rocks" — the three basalt sea stacks rising from the sea off the coast at Acitrezza (the most important fishing village in the Cyclops Riviera)): according to Homer's "Odyssey" (the most important epic poem in Greek literature: the poem describing the 10-year return voyage of Odysseus (Ulysses) from Troy to Ithaca after the Trojan War), these are the rocks thrown by the blinded Cyclops Polyphemus at Odysseus's escaping ships (the most important Homeric landscape identification in Sicily — the "Faraglioni dei Ciclopi" are the most tangible connection between Greek mythology and Sicilian geography): the three basalt stacks (the "Grande", the "Piccolo" and the "Faraglione di Mezzo") rise 27–72m from the Ionian Sea.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideArancino lunch in Catania (the most important Sicilian street food — and the most passionately debated food name in Sicily): the "arancino" (the Catanese masculine form — the most linguistically contentious food in Italy: the gender of the word divides Sicily into the eastern "arancino" (masculine, Catania and eastern Sicily) camp and the western "arancina" (feminine, Palermo and western Sicily) camp (the most heated culinary grammar debate in Italian food culture)): the arancino (the deep-fried rice ball): the most important Sicilian street food (the rice ball — the most technically demanding Sicilian street food to make: the short-grain rice is cooked with saffron (the most important spice in the Sicilian arancino tradition) and formed into the most perfect conical shape (the Catania arancino is always conical — the shape represents the cone of Mount Etna: the most important visual symbolism in Sicilian street food design), then filled with the most important filling (the "ragu" — the Sicilian ragu of minced beef + tomato + green peas + onion), coated in breadcrumbs and deep-fried in the most abundant amount of vegetable oil until the most perfectly golden and the most crispy exterior.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideBenedictine Monastery of San Nicolò l'Arena (the most important Baroque monastery in Sicily and one of the largest monastic complexes in Europe — 55,000 m²): founded 1558 on the ruins of a Roman building, the monastery was rebuilt after the 1693 earthquake in the most elaborate Baroque style (the most architecturally ambitious single rebuilding project in Catania after the earthquake: the monastery's construction consumed more lava stone than any other single building project in the city — the most important architectural commission in 18th-century Catania). The monastery is now the Faculty of Letters and Philosophy of the University of Catania (the most creative academic repurposing of a Baroque monastery in Italy). The guided visit includes: the Baroque entrance portal (the most elaborately carved portal on any Sicilian monastery), the two cloisters (the "Chiostro Grande" and the "Chiostro dei Leviti" — the most important monastic cloister architecture in Sicily), the "Sala Vaccarini" (the room dedicated to the most important Baroque architect of Catania) and the most important trompe-l'oeil ceiling paintings in the refectory.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideFarewell Catania — the cannolo siciliano at the Savia pasticceria (Via Etnea 302 — the most important pasticceria in Catania: the Savia has been the most celebrated Catanese pastry shop since 1897 (the most historically important Catanese dessert bar)): the cannolo siciliano (the most important Sicilian dessert and the most internationally recognized Sicilian food export (after the arancino)): the "cannolo" (the plural "cannoli" — the Italian-American mistaken singular that has entered the English language): the crispy fried pastry tube (the "scorza del cannolo" — the pastry shell made from lard + flour + sugar + Marsala wine + vinegar, rolled and wrapped around the metal tube and deep-fried: the most technically demanding pastry shell in Sicilian confectionery) filled with the Sicilian fresh sheep's milk ricotta (the most important dairy ingredient in Sicilian pastry: the fresh ricotta (the recooked whey cheese — "ricotta" = "recooked" in Italian) from the sheep's milk of the Belìce valley or the Enna plateau: the most flavourful and the most perishable of the Sicilian fresh cheeses) sweetened with the most important Sicilian sugar (the caster sugar (the "zucchero a velo" — the icing sugar for the smoothest ricotta filling)), studded with the most important Sicilian additions: the candied citron peel, the dark chocolate chips and the Bronte pistachios.
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