Things to do in Catania

Landmark · Centro storico

The heart of the 1693 rebuild: a cathedral of black lava and white limestone, and a Roman-era basalt elephant carrying an Egyptian obelisk in the middle of the square.

Local tip: The elephant is the city's emblem and the subject of enough folklore to fill an evening. Go up the Chiesa della Badia di Sant'Agata's dome terrace next door for the only view that shows you how completely the baroque centre was built as one piece.

Food · Behind Piazza del Duomo

A shouting, wet, entirely unromantic morning fish market in the arches under the cathedral square, running six days a week since the nineteenth century.

Local tip: Go before nine, and go on a weekday. The stalls at the back — past the fish and into the meat and produce — are where the actual food shopping happens. Several trattorie inside will cook what you have just bought.

Nature · 25–40km north of the city

A working volcano with vineyards on its lower flanks, pine and birch forest above them, and a lunar summit zone above 2,000 metres.

Local tip: The Circumetnea narrow-gauge railway loops the volcano through the villages and is a far better introduction than a summit jeep. Access above the Rifugio Sapienza is regulated and closes at short notice on INGV advice — check before you drive up, not when you arrive.

Neighborhood · Running north from the Duomo

A three-kilometre straight line laid out after 1693 to point at the volcano, with the nineteenth-century public garden halfway up it.

Local tip: Villa Bellini's upper terrace is where the city goes at dusk, and the view straight up via Etnea to the mountain on a clear evening is the single best free thing in Catania. Much of the street is pedestrianised at weekends.

Nature · 10km north along the coast

Basalt sea stacks off a fishing village, formed by an ancient lava flow and cast in Homer as the rocks Polyphemus threw at Odysseus.

Local tip: The stacks are a protected marine area with good, cold, deep swimming off the rocks — there is no sand. Aci Castello a kilometre south has a Norman castle built directly on a lava plug and is the better place to eat.

Culture · Piazza Dante, west of via Etnea

One of the largest Benedictine monasteries in Europe, built over a 1669 lava flow, bombed in 1943, and now the university's humanities faculty.

Local tip: The 'Officine Culturali' tours take you into the lava-buried basement kitchens and up onto the roof, and are run by the students who study there. Almost no visitor to Catania sees it, which is remarkable given it is a few hundred metres from via Etnea.