Explorer Catane

Piazza del Duomo is the main square of Catania, where Via Etnea, Via Garibaldi and Via Vittorio Emanuele II meet. The cathedral of Saint Agatha stands on its east side and the town hall in Palazzo degli Elefanti on the north, with the Elephant Fountain in the middle; across the square are the Amenano fountain and the Porta Uzeda.

The Elephant Fountain stands in the middle of Piazza del Duomo in Catania. Designed by Giovanni Battista Vaccarini in 1735-1737 as part of the rebuilding after the 1693 earthquake, it sets a black basalt elephant, known locally as u Liotru, on a marble base with figures of the rivers Simeto and Amenano, with an obelisk on its back.

Catania Cathedral is dedicated to Saint Agatha, the city's patron saint. First built in 1078-1093 by Roger I of Sicily over the Roman Achillean Baths, it was rebuilt in Baroque style after the 1693 earthquake, with a façade by Giovanni Battista Vaccarini; the Norman apses and parts of the transept survive. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Catania.

Palazzo Biscari is the Baroque town palace of the Paternò Castello princes of Biscari, built on Catania's 16th-century sea walls after the earthquake of 1693 and completed by Ignazio V (1714–1786). Still largely lived in by the family, it opens its frescoed halls for short guided tours, concerts and events.

The Roman Theatre of Catania is the excavated ruin of a theatre on the southern slope of the Montevergine hill, first built in the 1st century AD and enlarged in the 2nd, when the smaller Odeon beside it was added. Its seating held about 7,000 people. Houses later covered it, and two of them, kept during the excavations, now show the finds as an Antiquarium.

Castello Ursino is a square stone castle with round towers at its corners, built between 1239 and 1250 for Emperor Frederick II, King of Sicily. In 1295 it hosted the Sicilian Parliament during the War of the Sicilian Vespers and later served as a residence of the Aragonese kings. It now houses the Museo Civico, built on the Biscari and Benedictine collections.

The Amphitheatre of Catania is a Roman arena of lava stone, built in the second half of the 1st century AD and enlarged in the 2nd century to hold more than 15,000 spectators. Most of it lies under the old town; a section of the arena, the podium wall, a corridor and the seating above it is exposed below street level in Piazza Stesicoro.

The Monastery of San Nicolò l'Arena is a former Benedictine monastery in Catania, founded in 1558 and rebuilt in late Baroque style after the lava flow of 1669 and the earthquake of 1693. One of the largest monastic complexes in Europe, it now houses the University of Catania's humanities department; guided tours show its cloisters, corridors and underground levels.

Giardino Bellini, also called Villa Bellini, is the oldest public park in Catania. The city bought the Prince of Biscari's garden maze in 1854, turned it into a public garden from 1864 and opened it in 1883. Its terraced lawns, palm trees, stairways and bandstand are dedicated to the composer Vincenzo Bellini, whose marble bust stands here.