At the foot of Etna — black lava fountains, pistachio pastries, and the greatest fish market in Italy
Catania is a raw, exhilarating city built on lava at the foot of Europe's most active volcano — Mount Etna shadows it from the north, and the Baroque city centre was rebuilt on top of the 1669 lava flow and after the 1693 earthquake, giving it the finest Baroque architecture in Sicily and a cityscape of black basalt and white limestone that is unique in Italy. The La Pescheria fish market is a dawn spectacle of swordfish, bluefin tuna, and sea urchins laid on marble slabs inherited from a Roman amphitheatre.
Catania was a Greek colony (founded 729 BCE), ruled by Dionysius of Syracuse, taken by Rome, rebuilt by Arabs, fortified by Normans, devastated by the 1169 earthquake, covered by the 1669 Etna eruption, and then destroyed completely by the 1693 earthquake. Each catastrophe was followed by a reconstruction, which is why the city wears its Baroque clothes most completely — the 1693 rebuilding was supervised by Aragonese architects who designed the elephant fountain, the Piazza del Duomo, and the Via Etnea from scratch.