Catania

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Catania
Catania
Comune
Comune di Catania
u Liotru, symbol of Catania
u Liotru, symbol of Catania
Location of Catania
Map
Catania is located in Italy
Catania
Catania
Location of Catania in Italy
Catania is located in Sicily
Catania
Catania
Catania (Sicily)
Coordinates: 37°31′0″N 15°4′0″E / 37.51667°N 15.06667°E / 37.51667; 15.06667
CountryItaly
RegionSicily
ProvinceCatania (CT)
FrazioniSan Giovanni Galermo
Government
 • MayorRaffaele Stancanelli
Area
[1]
 • Total180.88 km2 (69.84 sq mi)
Elevation
7 m (23 ft)
Population
 (12-2007)
 • Total298,957
 • Density1,700/km2 (4,300/sq mi)
DemonymCatanesi
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code
95100
Dialing code095
Patron saintSt. Agatha
Saint dayFebruary 5
Websitehttp://www.comune.catania.it/
Catania Duomo, Sicilia. Giovanni Battista Vaccarini's principal façade (1736) is an example of the city's Sicilian Baroque architecture.
Piazza Duomo (Cathedral Square) in Catania.
The Baroque interior of the church of St. Benedict.

Catania (Greek: Κατάνη – Katánē; Latin: Catăna and Catĭna;[2] Arabic: Balad-al-Fil or Medinat-al-Fil, Wadi Musa and Qataniyah) is an Italian city on the east coast of Sicily facing the Ionian Sea, between Messina and Syracuse. It is the capital of the eponymous province, and with 298,957 inhabitants[3] (752,895 in the Metropolitan Area)[3] it is the second-largest city on the island.

Etymology

The Siculian Prehistory

The ancient Sicels were wont to found and denominate cities and villages choosing between geographical connotations and peculiar attributes of the locations they discovered and peopled.The Siculian word "Katane" signifies "grater, flaying knife, scorch".This term was immediately adopted by the new Greek colonists that used it to name the preexistent indigenous place. An additional acceptation is: harsh lands, uneven ground,sharp stones, rugged or rough soil. Such variety of senses is easily justifiable since the Etnean Metropolis has always been positioned, rebuilt and set inside a black lavic landscape.[4]

The Chalcidian Colony of the Sicilian Naxos

Around 729 BC, the archaic village of Katane became a Chalcidian colony (Katánē) and its native population was bound to be rapidly assimilated and hellenized. The founders, coming from the coastwise Naxos, will make use of the autochthonal name for their new settlement.

The Empire of Rome

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".[5] Catinus has, in fact, two main values: “a gulf, a basin, a bay” and “a bowl, a vessel, a trough”. Both explications may be admissible thanks to the city’s typical trait and topography. Catania has constantly abutted against the sea, bordering the Gulf of Catania, but at the same time, it has always been reconstructed like a dilating crown beside the acuminate slopes of Etna.

The Arab Conquest of Sicily

Around 900 AD, the Saracenic Dominance 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" and the second is simply and proudly "The City of the Elephant".[6] The Elephant is the lavic one of Piazza Duomo’s Fountain, probably a prehistorical sculpture reforged in Byzantine Era, an idolatrised talisman that was reputed able to protect the city from any sort of enemies and even so powerful to keep away misfortune, plagues or natural calamities.The Moslem Conquerors accepted this pachydermical protection deciding to name after it the vanquished town. Today's name stems from an Arab toponym. Qatanyiah are literally "the leguminous plants" (in Arab "Qataniyy"), whose feminized collective suffix is "yiah".[7] Products like lentils, beans, peas, broad beans and lupins were chiefly cultivated in the Catanian Plain before the arrival of Aghlabites' soldiery from Tunisia. Afterwards, many Islamic Agronomists will be the principal boosters and those who overcropped the citruses orchards in the greater part of Sicily's ploughlands.Lastly, Wadi Musa intends the River or the Valley of Moses that is to say the sometime Arab name of the Symaethus River, but this denomination was rarely associated to pinpoint the seat of the then Emirate of Catania.[7][8][9]

Geography

Catania is located on the east coast of the island, at the foot of the active volcano Mount Etna. The position of Catania at the foot of Mount Etna was the source, as Strabo 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.)

The Metropolitan Area

The Metropolitan Area of Catania: in red, the city and the hinterland comuni forming the urban belt; in yellow, the province.

The Metropolitan Area of Catania is formed by the Comune of Catania (298,257 inhabitants as of Dec. 2007)[3] and by 26 surrounding comuni forming a urban belt (453,938 inhabitants as of Dec. 2007).[3] The total population of the Metropolitan Area of Catania is therefore 752,895.[3] The comuni forming the Metropolitan Area are: 

1 - Aci Bonaccorsi
2 - Aci Castello
3 - Aci Catena
4 - Aci Sant'Antonio
5 - Acireale
6 - Belpasso
7 - Camporotondo Etneo
8 - Catania
9 - Gravina di Catania
10 - Mascalucia
11 - Misterbianco
12 - Motta Sant'Anastasia
13 - Nicolosi
14 - Paternò
15 - Pedara
16 - Ragalna
17 - San Giovanni la Punta
18 - San Gregorio di Catania
19 - San Pietro Clarenza
20 - Sant'Agata li Battiati
21 - Santa Maria di Licodia
22 - Santa Venerina
23 - Trecastagni
24 - Tremestieri Etneo
25 - Valverde
26 - Viagrande
27 - Zafferana Etnea

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 has not to be confounded with the Province of Catania, a far broader area that counts 58 comuni and 1,081,915 inhabitants,[3] but which does not form a urban system with the city.

Demographics

As of December 2007, there are 298,597 people residing in Catania,[3] of whom 47.2% are male and 52.8% are female. Minors (children agef 18 and younger) 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 as a whole grew by 3.85 percent.[3] The reason of this population decline 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 Metropolian area of Catania increase.[3] The current birth rate 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. The largest immigrant group came from sub-saharan Africa: 0.69%, South Asia: 0.46%, and from other European countries (particularly from Ukraine and Poland): 0.33%. Catania is almost entirely Roman Catholic.

Catania's Escutcheon

The symbol of the city is u Liotru, or the Fontana dell'Elefante and was assembled in 1736 by Giovanni Battista Vaccarini. It is made of marble portraying an ancient lavic elephant and surmounted by an Egyptian obelisk from Syene.Tall tale 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 appended appropriately elephantine testicles to the original statue. The Sicilian name u Liotru is the deformation of Heliodorus. A similar sculpture is in Piazza Santa Maria della Minerva in Rome.Catania's coat of arms is a red elephant on a light-blue field with an "A" (Agatha's initial or the first letter of Aetna) set higher above its back.

The Elephantine Tutelage

The presence of an elephant in the folkloristics of the history of Catania is mainly connected to both zooarcheology and popular credences. In the Upper Palaeolithic, in fact, the prehistoric fauna of Sicily enumerated a host of dwarf elephants.

Inside the Catanian Museum of Mineralogy, Paleonthology and Vulcanology there is the integral unburied skeleton of an elephas falconeri in an excellent state of conservation. The primitive inhabiters of Etna and whilom progenitors of the latter-day Catanians, molded suchlike lavatic artifact to idolize the mythical proboscidian that they considered the sole responsible of the resolutive and supposed ejection of all the vexing animals from the totality of the volcanic boundaries and territories.

This venerated black sculpture survived the centuries to outlast till today. It is doubtless the most ancient monument of the Etnean chief town, followed by the Syenian obelisk positioned on its spine.

In the official heraldry the colour of its dermis became red to recollect the colour of the scalding lava. But the most-told happening that will be fundamental to radicate this kind of affection for the beloved "Liotru" in the mythological culture of Catania is strictly related to the popular and documented legend of the so-called "magician" Heliodorus.

Civic Mottoes

The two most recurrent Latin mottoes of Catania are readable on the marble tags set on the baroque prospect of the monumental Triumphal Arch of Piazza Palestro whose name is "Porta Garibaldi" (Garibaldi Gate) but also "Porta Ferdinandea" (Ferdinandean Gate).

They still enunciate: "Melior De Cinere Surgo" (I Arise Better From My Ashes) and "Armis Decoratur, Litteris Armatur" (Adorned with Weapons, Armed with Letters).

The first underlines the interchange down the ages between its unforeseen destructions and the gradual and successive reconstructions, comparing such cyclicities of sudden ruinations and consequent rebirths to the legend of the mythical Phoenix, the fiery creature perennially fated to upspring anew from its own embers.This firebird is, in fact, sculpted atop the archway of the abovementioned arch-shaped structure.

The second simply wants to emphasize the role of cultural and University pole for the whole Sicily from Middle Ages till modern times since the armaments were largely reproduced and utilized as ornamental and architectural elements to bedight the fronts of the main noblest city's dwellings.

History

Foundation

All ancient authors agree in representing Catania as a Greek colony named Κατάνη (Katánē—see also List of traditional Greek place names) of Chalcidic origin, but founded immediately from the neighboring city of Naxos, under the guidance of a leader named Euarchos (Euarchus). The exact date of its foundation is not recorded, but it appears from Thucydides to have followed shortly after that of Leontini (modern Lentini), which he places in the fifth year after Syracuse, or 730 BCE. (Thuc. vi. 3; Strabo vi. p. 268; Scymn. Ch. 286; Scyl. § 13; Steph. B. s. v.)

Greek Sicily

The only event of its early history which has been transmitted to us is the legislation of Charondas, 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 also, as well as to his own country (Arist., Pol. ii. 9), 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, but that despot, in 476 BCE, 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. He at the same time changed its name to Αἴτνη (Aítnē, Aetna or Ætna, after the nearby Mount Etna, an activevolcano), and caused himself to be proclaimed the Oekist or founder of the new city. As such he was celebrated by Pindar, and after his death obtained heroic honors from the citizens of his new colony. (Diod. xi. 49, in 66; Strab. l.c.; Pind. Pyth. i., and Schol. ad loc.) But this state of things was of brief duration, and a few years after the death of Hieron and the expulsion of Thrasybulus, the Syracusans combined with Ducetius, king of the Siculi, to expel the newly settled inhabitants of Catania, who were compelled to retire to the fortress of Inessa (to which they gave the name of Aetna), while the old Chalcidic citizens were reinstated in the possession of Catania, 461 BCE. (Diod. xi. 76; Strab. l. c.)

The period which 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: but we have no details of its history till the great Athenian expedition to Sicily (part of the larger Peloponnesian War). 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. (Thuc. vi. 50-52, 63, 71, 89; Diod. xiii. 4, 6, 7; Plut. Nic. 15, 16.)

We have no information as to the fate of Catania after the close of this expedition: it is next mentioned in 403 BCE, when it fell into the power of Dionysius I of Syracuse, who sold the inhabitants as slaves, and gave up the city to plunder; after which he established there a body of Campanian mercenaries. These, however, quit it again in 396 BCE, and retired to Aetna, on the approach of the great Carthaginian armament under Himilco and Mago. The great sea-fight in which the latter defeated Leptines, the brother of Dionysius, was fought immediately off Catania, and the city apparently[weasel words] fell, in consequence, into the hands of the Carthaginians. (Diod. xiv. 15, 58, 60.)

But we have no account of its subsequent fortunes, nor does it appear who constituted its new population; it is only certain that it continued to exist. Callippus, the assassin of Dion, when he was expelled from Syracuse, for a time held possession of Catania (Plut. Dion. 58); and when Timoleon landed in Sicily we find it subject to a despot named Mamercus, who at first joined the Corinthian leader but afterwards abandoned his alliance for that of the Carthaginians, and was in consequence attacked and expelled by Timoleon. (Diod. xvi. 69; Plut. Timol. 13, 30-34.) Catania was now restored to liberty, and appears to have continued to retain its independence; during the wars of Agathocles with the Carthaginians, it sided at one time with the former, at others with the latter; and when Pyrrhus landed in Sicily, Catania was the first to open its gates to him, and received him with the greatest magnificence. (Diod. xix. 110, xxii. 8, Exc. Hoesch. p. 496.)

Roman Rule

In the First Punic War, Catania was one of the first among the cities of Sicily, which made their submission to the Roman Republic, after the first successes of their arms in 263 BC. (Eutrop. ii. 19.) The expression of Pliny (vii. 60) who represents it as having been taken by Valerius Messala, 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) and Messana (modern Messina), it rose to a position of great prosperity under the Roman rule.

Cicero repeatedly mentions it as, in his time, a wealthy and flourishing city; it retained its ancient municipal institutions, its chief magistrate bearing the title of Proagorus; and appears to have been one of the principal ports of Sicily for the export of corn. (Cic. Verr. iii. 4. 3, 83, iv. 23, 45; Liv. xxvii. 8.) It subsequently suffered severely from the ravages of Sextus Pompeius, and was in consequence one of the cities to which a colony was sent by Augustus; a measure that appears to have in a great degree restored its prosperity, so that in Strabo's time it was one of the few cities in the island that was in a flourishing condition. (Strab. vi. pp. 268, 270, 272; Dion Cass. iv. 7.)

It retained its colonial rank, as well as its prosperity, throughout the period of the Roman Empire; so that in the 4th century Ausonius in his Ordo Nobilium Urbium, notices Catania and Syracuse alone among the cities of Sicily. (Plin. iii. 8. s. 14; Ptol. iii. 4. § 9; Itin. Ant. pp. 87,90, 93, 94).

Locational Significance

One of the most serious eruptions of Etna happened in 121 BCE, 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. (Oros. v. 13.) 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, to Leontini or Centuripa (modern Centuripe), 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 corn. The port of Catania also, which was in great part filled up by the eruption of 1669, 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.

Catania's Renown in Antiquity

Catania was the birth-place of the philosopher and legislator Charondas; it was also the place of residence of the poet Stesichorus, 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, under Στησίχορος.) Xenophanes, the philosopher of Elea, also spent the latter years of his life there (Diog. Laert. ix. 2. § 1), 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 (Athen. i. p. 22, c.); and the first sundial that was set up in the Roman forum was carried thither by Valerius Messala from Catania, 263 BCE. (Varr. ap. Plin. vii. 60.) But few associations connected with Catania were more celebrated in ancient times than the Legend of the Pii Fratres, 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 and Claudian have dwelt upon it at considerable length. The occurrence is referred by Hyginus to the first eruption of Etna that took place after the settlement of Catania. (Strab. vi. p. 269; Paus. x. 28. § 4; Conon, Narr. 43; Philostr. Vit. Apoll. v. 17; Solin. 5. § 15; Hygin. 254; Val. Max. v. 4. Ext. § 4; Lucil. Aetn. 602-40; Claudian. Idyll. 7; Sil. Ital. xiv. 196; Auson. Ordo Nob. Urb. 11.)

From the Fall of the Roman Empire to Unification of Italy

After the fall of the Roman Empire, Catania, like the rest of Sicily, became subject of various dominations by a series of Empires, dynasties and populations:[10]

  • The Byzantin domination from VI c. to IX c.
  • The Arabic domination from IX c. to XI c.
  • The Norman domination from XI c. to XII c.
  • The Svevian domination from XII c. to XIII. c.
  • The Angioin domination during the XIII c.
  • The Aragon domination from XIII c. to XV c.
  • The Spanish domination from XV. c. to XVIII. c
  • The Sabaudian domination during the XVIII c.
  • The Austrian domination during the XVIII c.
  • The Borbonic domination from XVIII c. up to the Unification of Italy (1861)

In 1693 the city was completely destroyed by earthquakes and by lava flows which ran over and around it into the sea. The city was then rebuilt in the precious baroque architecture that nowadays enjoys.

Catania in Unified Italy

In 1860 General Garibaldi freed Sicily putting an end to fourteen centuries of foreign domination, and since 1861 Catania is a free city of Italy, whose history it shares since then.

After World War II, and the constitution of Italian Republic (1946), the history of Catania is, like the history of other cities of Southern Italy, an attempt to catch up with the economic and social development of the richer Northern Italy and to solve the problems that for historic reasons plague the south of Italy, namely a heavy gap in industrial development and infrastructures, and the presence of criminal organisations.

This notwithstanding, Catania during the 60s (and partly during the 90s) enjoyed a great development and an economic, social and cultural effervescence.

In the last years, Catania economy and social development somewhat faltered and in these years the city is facing economic and social stagnation.

Landmarks

Classical

Ruins of Greek-Roman theater, Catania, Sicily.

The city has been buried by lava a total of seven times in recorded history, and in layers under the present day city are the Roman city that preceded it, and the Greek city before that. Many of the ancient monuments of the Roman city have been destroyed by the numerous seisms. Currently, remains of the following buildings can be seen:

Roman structures:

  • The Achillean Thermæ  • Terme Achilliane or Terme Achillee
  • The Guidance's Thermæ  • Terme dell'Indirizzo
  • The Itria's Thermæ  • Terme dell'Itria
  • The Rotunda's Thermæ  • Terme della Rotonda
  • The Four Quoin's Thermæ  • Terme dei Quattro Canti
  • Palazzo Asmundo's Thermæ  • Terme di Palazzo Asmundo
  • University's Thermæ  • Terme del Palazzo dell'Università
  • Casa Gagliano's Thermæ  • Terme di Casa Gagliano
  • Saint Anthony Abbot's Thermæ  • Terme della Chiesa di Sant'Antonio Abate

Baroque and Historical Shurches

The Basilica Collegiata di Santa Maria dell'Elemosina is on the Latin cross plan with a nave and two aisles. The high altar has a Madonna icon, probably of Byzantine manufacture.

  • Saint Mary of Ogninella  • Chiesa di Santa Maria dell'Ogninella
  • Saint Michael the Lesser  • Chiesa di San Michele Minore
  • Saint Michael Archangel or Minorites' Church • San Michele Archangelo or Chiesa dei Minoriti
  • Saint Julian  • Chiesa di San Giuliano
  • Monastery of Saint Julian  • Monastero di San Giuliano
  • Saint Teresa  • Chiesa di Santa Teresa
  • Saint Francis Borgia or Jesuits' Church  • San Francesco Borgia or Chiesa dei Gesuiti
  • Convent of the Jesuits  • Convento dei Gesuiti
  • Saint Mary of Jesus  • Chiesa di Santa Maria di Gesù (1465, restored in 1706)
  • Saint Dominic or Saint Mary the Great  • Chiesa di San Domenico or Santa Maria la Grande (1224)
  • Dominicans' Friary  • Monastero dei Domenicani (1224)
  • Saint Mary of Purity or Saint Mary of Visitation  • Chiesa di Santa Maria della Purità or Chiesa della Visitazione (1775)
  • Madonna of Graces' Chapel  • Cappella della Madonna delle Grazie
  • Saint Ursula  • Chiesa di Sant'Orsola
  • Saint Agatha at the Lava Flows  • Chiesa di Sant'Agata alle Sciare
  • Saint Euplius Old Church Ruins  • Ruderi della Vecchia Chiesa di Sant'Euplio
  • Saint Cajetan at the Grottoes  • Chiesa di San Gaetano alle Grotte (260)
  • Basilica of the Most Holy Annunciated Mary of Carmel  • Basilica di Maria Santissima Annunziata al Carmine (1729)
  • Saint Agatha at the Borough  • Chiesa di Sant'Agata al Borgo. (1669, destroyed in 1693 and rebuilt in 1709). The "Borough" (il Borgo) is an inner district of Catania.
  • Saint Nicholas at the Borough  • Chiesa di San Nicola al Borgo
  • Most Holy Sacrament at the Borough  • Chiesa del Santissimo Sacramento al Borgo
  • Saint Mary of Providence at the Borough  • Chiesa di Santa Maria della Provvidenza al Borgo
  • Chapel of the Blind's Hospice  • Cappella dell'Ospizio dei Ciechi
  • Saint Camillus of the Crucifers  • Chiesa di San Camillo dei Crociferi
  • Catanian Benedictine Monastery of Saint Nicholas the Arena  • Monastero Benedettino di San Nicola l'Arena (1558)
  • Basilica of Saint Nicholas the Arena  • Chiesa di San Nicola l'Arena (1687)
  • Saint Mary of Guidance  • Chiesa di Santa Maria dell'Indirizzo (1730)
  • Saint Clare • Chiesa di Santa Chiara (1563)
  • Convent of the Poor Clares  • Monastero delle Clarisse (1563)
  • Saint Sebastian Martyr  • Chiesa di San Sebastiano Martire (1313)
  • Saint Anne  • Chiesa di Sant'Anna
  • Marian Sanctuary of Saint Mary of Help  • Santuario di Santa Maria dell'Aiuto
  • Madonna of Loreto  • Chiesa della Madonna di Loreto
  • Church of the Saint Joseph at Transit  • Chiesa di San Giuseppe al Transito
  • Immaculate Conception of Little Minorites  • Chiesa dell'Immacolata Concezione dei Minoritelli
  • Saint Agatha by Little Virgins' Boarding Convent  • Chiesa di Sant'Agata al Conservatorio delle Verginelle
  • Our Lady of Itria or Saint Mary Hodigitria  • Chiesa di Santa Maria dell'Itria or Odigitria.

Hodigitria is a Greek word meaning She who shows the Way.

  • Saint Philip Neri  • Chiesa di San Filippo Neri
  • Saint Martha  • Chiesa di Santa Marta
  • Holy Child  • Chiesa del Santo Bambino
  • Our Lady of Providence  • Chiesa di Santa Maria della Provvidenza
  • Saint Beryllus (or Birillus) inside Saint Mary of the Sick  • Chiesa di San Berillo in Santa Maria degli Ammalati
  • Our Lady of the Poor  • Chiesa della Madonna dei Poveri
  • Saint Vincent de Paul  • Chiesa di S.Vincenzo de'Paoli
  • Saint John the Baptist  • Chiesa di San Giovanni Battista in the suburb of San Giovanni di Galermo
  • Saint Anthony Abbot  • Chiesa di Sant'Antonio Abate
  • Little Saviour's Byzantine Chapel  • Cappella Bizantina del Salvatorello
  • Saint Augustine  •Chiesa di Sant'Agostino
  • Church of the Most Holy Trinity  • Chiesa della Santissima Trinità
  • Church of the Little Virgins  • Chiesa delle Verginelle
  • Our Lady of the Rotunda  • Chiesa di Santa Maria della Rotonda
  • Church of the Most Holy Retrieved Sacrament  • Chiesa del Santissimo Sacramento Ritrovato (1796).

This church was constructed on the Lavas of "Armisi", a shelfy locale on the seaward coast of Catania where a Sacred Monstrance with its Holy Hosts were repossessed after a sacrilegious theft occurred in 1796.On May 29th, a pair of scoundrels entered undisturbed inside the Jesuitic Church of Saint Francis Borgia to seize without apparent hindrance the precious Ostensory.In that period the Dome of Saint Agatha was closed for repairs, so this parish was considered the most apt to assume the cathedral's functions.The two rascals were rapidly singled out and caught, but the broadmindedness of their misdeed produced a profound upset and a palpable indignation that pervaded both the civilian and religious society of the city.The meticulous researches involved the whole citizenship that contributed with extreme participation and great affliction.Some well-grounded evidences would have led to most precise traces near a lavic expanse looking on to the sea not far from the purlieu of the current central railway station.And moreover, the presence and the yelps of a little black mongrel, nestled by a prickly pear close to a scabrous hollow where the Holy Pyx was hidden, permitted its exact identification. Amazingly, however, the meek animal had not half a mind to stand aside from the filthy rag that wrapped the Casket.Rather than go away it kept lying down steadily for a long time. It was as though it wanted to protect and care for the mysterious and not edible result of its flair.A few people started throwing stones toward it but this solution was completely ineffectual and incapable sending it away from its temporary dog's bed.The tries of persuasion of those present will last quite a while.Because of such disconcerting stubbornness, the then religious authorities decided unanimously to lay the foundation stone of the new Temple of the Most Holy Retrieved Sacrament over a "forlorn and unsuited area abounding in magmatic scales".The district, where the episode took place, will be commonly known as the Quarter of "Our Found Again Lord" ("Nostru Signuri Asciatu" in local dialect and "Nostro Signore Ritrovato" in Italian).

  • Sanctuary of Our Lady of Ognina  • Santuario di Santa Maria in Ognina (1308). "Ognina" is the maritime quarter of Catania.

Ulysses and his companions landed in these precincts during the Sicilian scenes of the Odyssey when they will encounter and encave inside the cavern of Polyphemus.Immediately after the blinding of the cyclops, the King of Ithaca and the survived few will flee from his fury reaching the nearby roadstead of Ognina.Owing to this reason the charming seaway of the Gulf of Ognina (Golfo di Ognina) or "Porticciolo di Ognina" is still identified with the dual names of "Porto Ulisse" ( Ulysses' Port ) or "Baia d'Ulisse" ( Ulysses' Bay ).

This church was entitled this way, since prior to its construction in that very place there was a little devotional altar with an hand painted icon of the Crucifix.The anonymous pious author depictured the tablet obtaining a coloured substance from the leaves of the marjoram.

  • Crucifix of Miracles  • Chiesa del Crocifisso dei Miracoli
  • Crucifix of Good Death  •Chiesa del Crocifisso della Buona Morte
  • Our Lady of La Mecca  •Chiesa di Santa Maria della Mecca.

La Mecca is not the Saudiarabian Holy City, but a vernacular Catanian word that identifies a "silk mill" that existed, in effect, in its vicinity.

The ancient presence of a palm (nowadays disappeared) in the nearby forechurch justifies its second name.

Touristic Urban Spots

  • La "Villa Bellini" or "Giardini Vincenzo Bellini", (the Vincenzo Bellini's Gardens, more commonly known as Villa Bellini, are the "Main Park" of the city)
  • Orto Botanico dell'Università di Catania, (Catania's Botanical garden)
  • The Ursino Castle (il Castello Ursino), built by emperor Frederick II in the 13th century.
  • Uzeda Gate (la Porta Uzeda)
  • The Medieval Gothic-Catalan Arch of Saint John of Friars in Via Cestai (l'Arco Gotico-catalano di San Giovanni de' Freri in Via Cestai)
  • Ferdinandean Gate or Garibaldi Gate (la Porta Ferdinandea or Porta Garibaldi), a triumphal arch erected in 1768 to celebrate the marriage of Ferdinand I of Two Sicilies and Marie Caroline of Austria
  • Redoubt's Gate (la Porta del Fortino)
  • The House of the War-Mutilated built in fascist-style architecture (la Casa del Mutilato)
  • Catania War Cemetery, a Commonwealth Graveyard located in the southern country hamlet of Bicocca[11][12]

Subterranean Rivers

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

Administrative Division

File:Municipalities of Catania.gif
Municipalities of Catania

The city of Catania is divided in ten administrative areas called Municipalità (Municipalities).[13] The current administrative set-up was established in 1995, modifing 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

Education

Historical building of the University, in the city centre. Nowadays the different faculties are hosted in different buildings around town.

The University of Catania dates back to 1434 and it is the oldest university in Sicily.[14] Its academic nicknames are: Siculorum Gymnasium and Siciliae Studium Generale. Nowadays it hosts 12 faculties and over 62,000 students,[15] and it offers undergraduate and postgraduate programs.

Catania hosts the Scuola Superiore, an academic institution linked to the University of Catania, aimed at the excellence in education.[16] 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[17] an advanced institute of musical studies (Conservatory) and the Accademia di Belle Arti an advanced institute of artistic studies.[18] Both institutions offer programs of university level for musical and artistic education.

Culture

Vincenzo Bellini
Giovanni Verga

The opera composer Vincenzo Bellini was born in Catania, and a museum exists at his birthplace. The Teatro Massimo "Vincenzo Bellini", which opened in 1890, is named after the composer. The opera house presents a variety of operas through a season, which run from December to May, many of which are the work of Bellini.

Giovanni Verga was born in Catania in 1840.[19] He became the greatest writer of Verismo, an Italian literary movement akin to Naturalism.[20] His novels portray life among the lower levels of Sicilan society, such as fishermen and stone-masons, and were written in a mixture of both literary language and local dialect.[19]

The city is base of the newspaper La Sicilia and of the tv-channel Antenna Sicilia also known as Sicilia Channel. Several others local television channels and free-press magazines have their headquarters in Catania. Noted Italian Tv host Pippo Baudo is from Catania.

In the late 1980s and 1990s Catania had a sparkling and unique popular music scene. Indie pop and indie rock bands, local radio station and dynamic independent music record labels sprung. As a result, in those years the city experienced a vital and effervescent cultural period. Artists like Carmen Consoli and Mario Venuti and international known indie rock bands like Uzeda came out of this cultural milieu.

The city is the home of Amatori Catania rugby union team, Calcio Catania football team and Orizzonte Catania, the latter being a brilliant women's water polo club, winning eight European Champions Cup titles from 1994 to 2008. Noted Italian basketball coach Ettore Messina is a native of Catania.

The city's patron saint is Saint Agatha, who is celebrated with a religious pageantry on 5 February every year.

Transportation

Catania has a commercial seaport (Catania seaport), an international airport (Catania Fontanarossa), a central train station (Catania Centrale) and it is a main node of the Sicilian motorway system. The motorways serving Catania are the A18 Messina-Catania and the A19 Palermo-Catania; extensions of the A18 going from Catania to Syracuse and to Gela are currently under construction. The Circumetnea is a small-gauge railway which runs for 110 km from Catania round the base of Mount Etna. It attains the height of 976 m above sea level before descending to rejoin the coast at Giarre-Riposto to the North.

In the late 1990s the first line of an underground railway (Metropolitana di Catania) 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.[21] First line is planned to extend from the satellite city of Paternò to Fontanarossa Airport. Segments Borgo-Nesima (extending the underground railway from the station Borgo to the suburban area 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.[21]

Sister Cities

References

  1. ^ "Superficie di Comuni Province e Regioni italiane al 9 ottobre 2011". Italian National Institute of Statistics. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  2. ^ Roman writers fluctuate between the two forms Catana and Catina, of which the latter is, perhaps, the most common, and is supported by inscriptions (Orell. 3708, 3778); but the analogy of the Greek Κατάνη, and the modern Catania, would point to the former as the more correct.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Official ISTAT figures [1]
  4. ^ http://sicilia.indettaglio.it/eng/comuni/ct/catania/catania.html
  5. ^ Adolf Holm - Catania Antica, Edizioni G.Libertini 1925
  6. ^ Michele Amari - Edrisi, Il Libro di Re Ruggero, I, p.71
  7. ^ a b Autori Vari- Enciclopedia di Catania, Edizione Tringale 1987
  8. ^ Santi Correnti - La Città semprerifiorente, Edizioni Greco 1981
  9. ^ Santi Correnti & Santino Spartà - Le strade di Catania, Edizioni Newton Compton, 2007
  10. ^ Correnti (1994), Breve Storia della Sicilia, Rome, Newton Compton, pp. 22-49
  11. ^ Commonwealth War Graves Commission - Catania War Cemetery [2]
  12. ^ Veterans Affairs Canada/Anciens Combattants Canada - Catania War Cemetery [3]
  13. ^ Administrative division of Catania, from Comune di Catania Official Website [4]
  14. ^ History of the University of Catania by Unict main site Template:It icon[5] and Template:En icon (translation) [6]
  15. ^ History of the University of Catania, by Professor Giuseppe Giarrizzo, from Unict.it Template:It icon[7] and Template:En icon (translation)[8]
  16. ^ Official site[9]
  17. ^ Official site[10]
  18. ^ Template:It iconOfficial site[11]
  19. ^ a b Drabble, Margaret (1985), The Oxford Companion to English Literature: Verga, Giovanni (5th ed.), London: Guild Publishing, p. 1026
  20. ^ Drabble, Margaret (1985), The Oxford Companion to English Literature: Verismo (5th ed.), London: Guild Publishing, p. 1026
  21. ^ a b Underground railway of Catania from subways.net [12] and from metroitaliane.it in Template:It icon[13] and Template:En icon(translation)[14]

Notes

  • Vito Maria Amico (1697-1792) - Catana Illustrata (1740)
  • Autori Vari - Enciclopedia di Catania, Edizione Tringale 1987
  • Santi Correnti - La Città semprerifiorente, Edizioni Greco 1981
  • Santi Correnti - Cataniamia, Edizioni Greco 2000
  • Santi Correnti & Santino Spartà - Le strade di Catania, Edizioni Newton Compton, 2007
  • This article incorporates some information taken from http://www.hostkingdom.net/ with permission.
  • Other material is translated from the Italian Wikipedia site.
  •  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1854–1857). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

External links

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