Catania rebuilt itself in black lava and white limestone after the 1693 earthquake, layering Baroque theatre over Greek stone. Three days here take you from a UNESCO monastery and a Roman theatre swallowed by houses to Bellini's opera house and San Berillo's street art.
Europe's second-largest Benedictine monastery, now the university humanities faculty. Guided Officine Culturali tours reveal the 18th-century kitchens, the lava flow of 1669 frozen under the cloister floor and the Baroque courtyards. Daily tours from 09:00.
Sicily's largest church, left unfinished with a raw stump façade and bare columns. Inside, the 1755 meridian line by Sartorius von Waltershausen traces the sun across marble zodiac signs. Climb the dome for a full Etna panorama.
A 2nd-century Roman theatre for 7,000 spectators, half-buried beneath Baroque houses on Via Vittorio Emanuele. Restored vaulted corridors, the smaller Odeon rehearsal hall and the Casa Liberti museum of finds. Open 09:00–19:00.
The Moncada family still lives here and shows the 1763 rococo ballroom by appointment: a mirrored gallery, frescoed dome and the spiral 'stairway of angels' leading to the musicians' gallery above the dancers.
The house where Vincenzo Bellini was born in 1801, in Piazza San Francesco d'Assisi. Five rooms hold his harpsichord, autograph scores of Norma and I Puritani, his death mask and letters. Tuesday–Sunday 09:00–13:00.
The colonnaded university courtyard by Giovanni Battista Vaccarini is Catania's quietest Baroque space, with four wrought-iron lamps illustrating city legends. Read the opera programme here between museum visits.
Frederick II's 1240 fortress, its moat filled by the 1669 lava flow. The civic museum holds the Biscari classical collection, Greek vases, Roman mosaics and a picture gallery with works by Pietro Novelli and Michele Rapisardi.
Catania's 1890 opera house, with a ceiling fresco of scenes from Bellini's four operas and acoustics ranked among Italy's finest. Season runs October to June; guided daytime tours enter the royal box and foyer.
The apartment on Via Sant'Anna where the father of Italian verismo lived and died in 1922. His library of 2,600 volumes, writing desk and the bedroom are untouched — the setting behind I Malavoglia and Cavalleria Rusticana.
The half-demolished quarter behind Via Crociferi is Catania's open-air gallery: murals by Ligama, Rosk & Loste and Andrea Cardia cover the gutted façades, alongside community projects run by the Trame di Quartiere collective.
A former coffee-roasting plant in the Antico Corso district converted into Catania's leading contemporary art space, with large industrial halls hosting installations, residencies and shows by Sicilian and international artists.
Two hundred metres of pure Baroque theatre: four convent churches, the Villa Cerami arch and San Benedetto's marble staircase, all in lava stone and pale limestone. Film crews use it constantly for period scenes.