Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Catania
POP 296,000
Catania is a true city of the volcano. Much of it is constructed from the lava that poured
down the mountain and engulfed the city in the 1669 eruption in which nearly 12,000
people lost their lives. It is also lava-black in colour, as if a fine dusting of soot perman-
ently covers its elegant buildings, most of which are the work of baroque master Giovanni
Vaccarini. He almost single-handedly rebuilt the civic centre into an elegant, modern city
of spacious boulevards and set-piece piazzas.
Today Catania is Sicily's second commercial city - a thriving, entrepreneurial centre
with a large university and a cosmopolitan urban culture.
