Hotel Catania.

Catania is Sicily's second largest city, set in a wide plain overlooking the Ionian Sea at the foot of Etna. The volcano, as well as being the symbol of the city, has always influenced the life of these places. The fertility of the land has encouraged the establishment of peoples but frequent eruptions have often caused serious damage. The saddest period in the history of Catania was between 1666 and 1693 when an eruption and an earthquake destroyed the city completely. The '700 was the century of the reconstruction thanks to the architect Giovan Battista Vaccarini.

His masterpiece is Piazza del Duomo, surrounded by baroque palaces, centering the famous elefant fountain. This animal is the city's symbol and around its origin there are many legends. The Cathedral, built by the Normans in the twelfth century, has been extensively restructured and inside we can see the tomb of Vincenzo Bellini, the famous composer who was born in Catania in 1801. Not far is Palazzo Biscari, the largest private building in the city, with splendid interiors rich of frescoes and decorations in rococò style.

Going via Garibaldi, one of the main way of the city, it reaches Piazza Frederick II of Svevia, where lies the Castle Ursino. This imposing building was built in the thirteenth century and was the residence of all Aragonese sovereigns. Nowaday the Museo Civico is housed inside, with beautiful paintings, mosaics and ancient Greek and Roman finds. Many of the ancient monuments of the Roman time have been destroyed by the numerous earthquakes, but currently we can see the Teathre and the Amphitheater, one of the largest of the empire. Next to the castle is the house of Giovanni Verga, the other illustrious citizen of Catania. The city also boasts a long sandy beach surrounded by a small pine forest.