Catania

Catania is built out of Etna and repeatedly rebuilt after it. The 1669 lava flow reached the city walls and the 1693 earthquake flattened everything, so what stands now is a single coherent late-baroque city — laid out on a grid, in black lava stone and white limestone, by one architect's plan. It is Sicily's second city, a university town, and the least prettified place on the island: loud, sooty, cheap and very much alive. Etna is 30 km away and visible from most streets.

For the fish market, which is the best street theatre in Italy; for the volcano, which you can be standing on 90 minutes after breakfast; and because Catania is the natural base for eastern Sicily — Taormina, Syracuse, Noto and the Val di Noto are all inside an hour and a half.

Things to do

• La Pescheria — The fish market behind Piazza Duomo, under the arches, from about 07:00 to 13:00. Swordfish heads, shouting, and a bar in the middle of it.
• Mount Etna — Bus or drive to Rifugio Sapienza at 1,900 m, cable car and 4x4 to 2,900 m, and a guided walk on the craters if the day allows.
• Piazza Duomo and the elephant — A lava-stone elephant carrying an Egyptian obelisk — the city's symbol, and its baroque set piece.
• Monastero dei Benedettini — One of the largest monastic complexes in Europe, now the university's humanities faculty, built over and into the 1669 lava flow.
• The Circumetnea railway — A narrow-gauge line right round the volcano through Randazzo and the lava villages — about five hours for the full loop.
• Roman theatre and Odeon — A second-century theatre embedded in the middle of a residential block, with houses built into the seating.
• An Etna wine estate — Vineyards on black terraces at 600–1,000 m, some with pre-phylloxera vines. The north-east flank around Passopisciaro is the heartland.

3 days in Catania

1. Day 1 Baroque and market Catania

   Pescheria at 08:00, then Piazza Duomo and the cathedral. Granita and brioche mid-morning. Via dei Crociferi and the Monastero dei Benedettini before lunch. Pasta alla Norma. Afternoon at the Roman theatre and Castello Ursino. Aperitivo in San Berillo.

2. Day 2 Etna

   Early bus or drive to Rifugio Sapienza; cable car and guided 4x4 up, then a crater walk. Lunch at an agriturismo on the flank. Afternoon at an Etna wine estate on the way down, or the Alcantara gorges.

3. Day 3 The Val di Noto

   South by car: Syracuse and Ortigia in the morning, Noto's baroque main street in the afternoon, and back along the coast. Or Taormina north for the Greek theatre.

Practical

Best time to go

April–June and September–October. July and August are 35°C+ with high humidity. Winter is mild and Etna is under snow, which is when you can ski in the morning and sit on a beach in the afternoon — a genuine local boast. The feast of Sant'Agata, 3–5 February, is one of the largest religious festivals in the world and takes over the city.

Getting there

Catania Fontanarossa (CTA) is Sicily's busiest airport, 20 minutes from the centre by the Alibus. Trains along the coast to Taormina (45 min), Syracuse (1h20) and Messina; ferries and hydrofoils to the Aeolians run from Milazzo, 2h north. A car is needed for the Val di Noto and Etna's less-served flanks.

Getting around

The centre is walkable and flat. One metro line runs from the station towards the west; the Circumetnea narrow-gauge railway loops around the base of the volcano through the lava towns, which is a slow, cheap and wonderful half-day. AST buses run to Etna's Rifugio Sapienza from the station twice a day.

Eat & drink

Catania's dishes are its own: pasta alla Norma (aubergine, tomato, ricotta salata, basil), named for Bellini's opera — he was born here. Then the market food: sea urchins, raw prawns, arancini (pointed, and masculine here, unlike Palermo's), cipollina and crispelle. Granita with a brioche for breakfast, in almond, mulberry or pistachio. Etna DOC wines — Nerello Mascalese reds and Carricante whites — are the most interesting in Sicily.

Know before you go

Etna is an active volcano and access above 2,500 m depends on the day's activity and a licensed guide — never plan around reaching the summit craters. Ash falls close the airport a few times a year; build slack into the return leg. The pescheria is a working market, wet and pungent, and finishes by early afternoon. Traffic and parking in the centre are genuinely awful.