Greek and Roman, Arab and Byzantine, Norman, Swabian, and Spanish, Catania boasts a dense and interesting array of monuments.
Starting with the theater, the Odeon, and the Roman-era amphitheater; the 13th-century Ursino Castle, with its square plan, magnificent towers, and home to the rich collections of the Municipal Museum.
Many are the Baroque buildings overlooking elegant streets and squares: the Cathedral, with a sumptuous two-tiered facade (1736) and parts of the original medieval church; the churches of Saint Agatha, covered by a large and spectacular dome, and those of Saint Benedict, Saint Julian, Saint Francis, Saint Nicholas, the Collegiate itself: genuine gems of the so-called Catanese Baroque. Also not to be missed is a visit to the house-museums of Vincenzo Bellini and Giovanni Verga, the city’s two most illustrious sons, rich in many evocative relics. Traveling up the Ionian coast, you encounter three of the nine Aci towns that dot the territory around Catania. The first is Acicastello, just a stone’s throw from the capital, with its beautiful medieval village dominated by the Norman castle and the bay stirred by the sea stacks and the island of the Cyclops.
The second is Acitrezza, where Verga set “I Malavoglia.” The third is Acireale, rebuilt in Baroque style after the 1693 earthquake, offering culturally interesting stops such as the cathedral, the Zelantea Art Gallery, and the Puppet Theater. This coastal strip is also famous for extensive plantations of oranges, mandarins, and verdello lemons, used to prepare Sicilian lemon and mandarin jams, candied fruit, and citrus liqueurs.
Continuing up the coast, a stop not to miss, especially for those with a sweet tooth, is Giarre, home of almond pastries, amaretti, and the famous Martorana fruits with their delicate dough (sugar and crushed almonds), shaped and colored like real fruit. A few kilometers away lies Taormina, nestled on a green terrace between rocks and sea, with Mount Etna in the background.
