We drove today from Siracusa to Catania, an easy 60 Km on the highway. As you approach Catania there in front of you it looms large, very large, it looks like any other mountain, lost in the clouds. This is no ordinary mountain this is Mount Etna, the most active volcano in Europe and a deadly one at that, in its known history it has probably killed one hundred thousand people and destroyed numerous towns and villages, provoked great earthquakes and enormous tidal waves (tsunamis). At the moment it looks peaceful but like any monster it can wake-up and wreak havoc. Catania spreads at its feet, and Etna has destroyed Catania and killed its inhabitants about 8 times so far in recorded history, but they hung on and rebuilt.
Catania has several great churches, a Royal Chapel Santa Maria of the Alms blessed by Pope Eugene IV so that the Royal Bourbon Family of Spain who ruled Sicily for nearly 500 years would have a place to go and pray when they came to town. Several great princely families had palaces rebuilt after the earthquake of 1693 called Earthquake Baroque out of black lava rock and limestone giving the town sort of a Mexico City look. The most famous avenue is Via Aetna which crosses the city and ends on the slopes of the volcano. The cathedral is dedicated to Santa Agatha who is the patron saint of the city. She was a pretty local virgin who refused the advances of a powerful Roman official on the grounds that good girls don’t do things like that, early Christian morality which did not hold water with the old Roman morality and values of the time.
Her punishment was to be raped, have her breast cut off and rolled in hot sizzling charcoal for good measure, ouch!
In the cathedral you can also see the body of Blessed Cardinal Dusmet, he died a long time ago, but his body is on display in fine Cardinal red robes, it is quite obvious that under the robes is nothing but a skeleton, the skin of the hands are paper thin and black and his cardinal ring hangs loosely from the dried up fingers. This is something about Catholicism I find very disturbing, why do they have to expose corpses to pray too? The same thing is about to happen to the late Pope Jean-Paul II who is going to be placed in Saint Sebastian Chapel next to the Pieta in the basilica of St-Peter in Rome.
The local musical celebrity who is also buried in the Cathedral in a beautiful mausoleum is Vincenzo Bellini who was born in Catania. In his short life, he died at 34 he wrote 10 operas like Norma and I Puritani. The opera house in Catania one of the largest in Europe and also in need of a major restoration is named after him.
Catania is a port city and of all the cities I have seen in Sicily so far on this trip, I cannot say that it is appealing.
Since 2002 an effort has been made by the authorities to clean up and restore monuments but much remains to be done and I have to say that I found it all a bit sad looking. The black lava stone used in construction of so many buildings with the downtrodden aspect of the city does not help in the overall aesthetics. Let’s hope the authorities continue to improve the city and services and clean up its monuments, much has been done so far. The business people are friendly, the locals less so, it is a port city, you hear many foreign languages, French, German, Turk and Russian.
The one monument I really liked is in the Piazza del Duomo and it is the smiling statue of the Elephant Leotru, it is made of black lava rock. The story goes that he belonged to a famous magician in the 8th century A.D. Leotru is the symbol of Catania found on the Coat of Arms of the City. We also took the little train around town, a 30 minute tour of the most famous sites. Like many such tours it is not made for accuracy in details but to show off what the city has to offer. The comments are a rattle of statistics and names of places as you go down the streets. Most of it is entertaining and gives you a good idea of the layout of the city. The city is known for its fish and seafood restaurants. We did find good restaurants Antica Sicilia near the Piazza del’universita was one and the other was Metro an enoteca with very good food at reasonable prices, friendly and knowledgeable waiters.
We sail from Catania Sunday on our 12 hour ride up the coast of Italy to Naples.
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