| Catania
was founded in the 8th century BC by Greek colonizers
from Chalcis in Euboea led by Evarco. Once called Ætna,
after the volcano (480–461 BC), it has also been known
as Katane. It was extensively destroyed by earthquakes in
1169 and 1693, and by lava flows which ran over and around
it into the sea.
- The first Sicilian university was founded
there in 1434.
- The city's patronal saint is Saint Agata.
The city has been buried by lava a total
of seven times in recorded history, and in layers under the
present day city are the Roman city that preceded it, and
the Greek city before that. Today, the tops of the immense
Greek and Roman amphitheatres are at street level and in several
places the adventurous can descend into the numerous and uncharted
tunnels under the city. Although, the perils of finding pockets
of poisonous gas or unwelcomed people make this highly unadvisable.
Giovanni Battista Vaccarini's principal façade of 1736
is an example of the city's Sicilian Baroque. Under the city
runs the river Amenano, visible in just one point: the south
side of Piazza Duomo.
It has a commercial seaport in the city,
an international airport (Catania Fontanarossa) in the south,
a central train station (Catania Centrale) on the main lines
Messina-Syracuse, Catania-Gela and Catania-Palermo, as well
as the privately-owned, small-gauge Circumetnea railway. This
runs for 110 km from Catania round the base of Mount Etna,
attaining the height of 976 m above sea level before descending
to rejoin the coast at Giarre-Riposto to the North. In the
late 1990s the first line of an underground railway was built,
but never completed, extending the Circumetnea from its stop
on the north side of town to the Central Railway Station in
the southeast.
In the late 1980s and 1990s Catania had
a unique popular music scene with local radio stations. As
a result of these idiosyncratic and regional radio stations,
Catania boasted a youth culture in which indie pop and indie
rock from lesser known international bands thrived. As a result
of the eclectic taste in ithese sorts of music, Catania has
become the birthplace of a number of dynamic and unusual independent
music record labels.
Catania is also the home of Amatori Catania
rugby union team, and Calcio
Catania football team. |
