Things to Do in Catania

Cathedral Square

The heart of Catania, Cathedral Square is a concentration of Baroque masterpieces. As the meeting point of the city’s main streets, the square is home to the seats of municipal and ecclesiastical power: the Town Hall, the Cathedral and the Seminary. The slope of the surrounding streets affords impressive views of the square’s panoramic and architectural beauty.

The focal point of the square is the Elephant Fountain, created by reusing ancient decorative elements including a Roman-era lava stone elephant and an Egyptian obelisk. Surrounding the fountain are the Town Hall, housed in the Palazzo degli Elefanti and the Palazzo dei Chierici, which connects to the Cathedral via a passage above Porta Uzeda. Opposite the Town Hall is the Amenano Fountain, representing the river that flows beneath Catania.

Elephant Fountain

Located in Cathedral Square, the Elephant Fountain is distinguished by a lava stone statue depicting an elephant, known as “Liotru” and the city’s symbol. Created by architect Giovan Battista Vaccarini between 1735 and 1737, as part of the city’s reconstruction following the devastating 1693 earthquake, the fountain combines several elements.

The base consists of a white marble pedestal positioned at the centre of a basin. On the base, two sculptures represent Catania’s two rivers, the Simeto and the Amenano. Above them stands the elephant statue, facing the Cathedral of Sant’Agata with its trunk. On the elephant’s back is a granite obelisk three and a half metres high, decorated with Egyptian-style figures. Its dating is uncertain, tentatively attributed to the Roman period and likely brought from Egypt to Catania during the Crusades.

At the top of the obelisk are mounted a globe, surrounded by a crown featuring a palm leaf (representing martyrdom) and a lily branch (representing purity). Above this is a metal tablet bearing an inscription dedicated to Sant’Agata, the city’s patroness, and finally a cross.

Cathedral of Sant'Agata

Erected during the Norman period, Catania’s cathedral retains from this construction phase its austere and powerful apses and transept. The church’s current appearance dates from the eighteenth-century reconstruction, which also involved reusing pre-existing elements such as the sixteenth-century portal inserted on the left side. Originally built over ancient Roman baths, its numerous modifications over subsequent centuries resulted from the damage caused by earthquakes that struck the city.

The impressive Latin cross interior, divided into three naves, houses notable artworks and contains celebrated tombs. Notable are the tomb of Vincenzo Bellini, the famous composer born in Catania, and two sarcophagi—one from the Roman period containing the remains of members of the Aragonese royal family, and the other Gothic, belonging to Costanza d’Aragona—located within the Norman chapel of the Madonna, one of the cathedral’s most precious works.

Via Crociferi

Due to the quality and beauty of its buildings, particularly its religious structures, Via Crociferi is considered the most representative street of Baroque Catania.

Among the most important buildings to see are the Church of San Giuliano with an attractive convex façade, the Collegio dei Gesuiti with four magnificent courtyards, the Church of San Francesco Borgia with a double-ramp staircase and the Church of San Benedetto with a richly decorated façade. The walk ends at Villa Cerami, a green oasis housing the Faculty of Law.

Via Crociferi runs parallel to Via Etnea and can be accessed from Via Vittorio Emanuele or Via Di Sanguliano.

Castello Ursino

Built by Frederick II in the first half of the thirteenth century, originally on a promontory surrounded by sea, fortified with walls in the sixteenth century and subsequently damaged and restored several times, Castello Ursino features a square floor plan, surrounded by a moat, with four cylindrical towers at the corners. During the Sicilian Vespers, it served as the seat of Parliament and later, in the 1400s, became the residence of Aragonese rulers.

The lava flow of 1600 reached the castle and buried part of it, creating a new esplanade and moving it away from the sea.

In the early twentieth century, its original structure was recovered. Today it houses the Civic Museum.

Palazzo Biscari

This palace is particularly renowned for its unmissable façade on Via Dusmet: adorned with caryatids and richly framed balconies decorated with relief work enhanced by striking chromatic effects, it represents the epitome of Catania’s opulence in past centuries. The palace’s rear section overlooks Via Biscari instead.

The interior features a sumptuous ballroom with a domed vault, Rococo decorations, mirrors, frescoes and a gallery with an extraordinary spiral staircase ingeniously designed to create a sense of lightness.

The palace hosted many important figures within its rooms, including Goethe.

Achilleian Baths

The underground thermal structures in Catania date to the fourth-fifth centuries, with only a small visible portion remaining beneath Cathedral Square. The name derives from an inscription on a marble slab, now fragmented into six pieces and displayed in the Civic Museum at Castello Ursino.

Access to the baths is gained through a barrel-vaulted corridor carved in the cavity between the cathedral’s foundations.

San Nicolò and the Benedictine Monastery

The Church of San Nicolò, begun in 1687, is the largest church in Sicily. The façade, never completed, is rhythmed by gigantic truncated columns. The interior is impressive for its vast space and lack of decorative elements. It contains some canvases from the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries placed on altars, a beautiful sundial enriched with zodiacal figures in the transept, one of the grandest existing organs and a splendid wooden choir.

Adjoining the church is the Benedictine monastery, one of Europe’s largest monastic complexes, a magnificent eighteenth-century building with a façade marked by pilasters and richly decorated window frames. The interior houses two cloisters, a refectory and libraries containing over 100,000 volumes and publications. Today it serves as the Department of Human Sciences of the University and hosts a cultural space where exhibitions, workshops and conferences are held.

Via Etnea

Via Etnea is the main street, the most important and scenic thoroughfare in Catania’s historic centre, running in a straight line and stretching approximately 2.8 kilometres. It emerged at the end of the seventeenth century following the disastrous earthquake of 11 January 1693, and the palaces built along the street were constructed in Sicilian Baroque style by architects Giovan Battista Vaccarini and Francesco Battaglia.

Via Etnea runs from Cathedral Square to Tondo Gioeni, passing through Piazza Università with the Rectory and San Giuliano palaces and seven Baroque churches, including the splendid Collegiate Church.

Today it is the shopping street, pedestrianised and always bustling with activity, one of the most beloved places for locals and tourists alike.

Belliniano Civic Museum

The current Belliniano Civic Museum occupies the house where composer Vincenzo Bellini was born on 3 November 1801 and spent his first sixteen years.

Inaugurated on 5 May 1930 in the presence of Vittorio Emanuele III, the museum is organised chronologically. The apartment comprises just five rooms, entirely filled with memorabilia tracing Bellini’s life and that of his family; paintings, books, original scores, musical instruments and the composer’s death mask.