What to See in Catania: Attractions & Sights

Only those on the map

Places 94

Piazza del Duomo e Fontana dell'Elefante Squares
The core of Catania, known for its lava stone elephant and the 4th-century Roman baths hidden 5 meters below.
Monastero dei Benedettini Churches
Europe's second-largest Benedictine monastery, this UNESCO-listed complex is a triumph of Sicilian late-baroq…
Castello Ursino Castles
A 13th-century Hohenstaufen castle in Catania, now home to the city's Civic Museum and art collections.
Basilica Maria Santissima dell'Elemosina Churches
Late Baroque basilica in Catania rebuilt after 1693, renowned for its facade designed by Stefano Ittar.
Palazzo Biscari Castles
The Biscari princes' palace, built on the walls of Charles V, and its Rococo ballroom.
Teatro romano di Catania Museums
The 2nd-century Roman Theatre of Catania, built over ancient Greek foundations and fed by the subterranean Am…
Chiesa della Badia di Sant'Agata Churches
Designed by Vaccarini, this Catania Baroque church features yellow marble altars and 18th-century stucco stat…
Teatro Massimo Vincenzo Bellini Museums
Catania's opera house, opened in 1890 with Bellini's Norma: 1,200 seats and legendary acoustics.
Palazzo degli Elefanti Castles
Catania's black and white town hall, with the lava-stone Liotru in front.
Chiesa di San Placido Churches
Baroque church in Catania rebuilt by Stefano Ittar in 1723 over the ruins of an ancient temple.
Chiesa di San Francesco Borgia Churches
Baroque church on Via dei Crociferi in Catania, rebuilt after 1693 to a design by fra' Angelo Italia.
Anfiteatro romano di Catania Museums
The remains of Sicily's largest Roman amphitheatre, constructed in Catania during the 2nd century AD.
Chiesa di San Benedetto Churches
A landmark Baroque church in Catania known for its Angel's Staircase and complete Tuccari vault frescoes.
Basilica santuario di Maria Santissima Annunziata al Carmine Churches
Catania's third-largest church features a monumental facade by Francesco Battaglia and centuries of Carmelite…
Chiesa di Santa Maria di Gesù Churches
Built in 1442 in Catania, this church features Renaissance sculptures by Antonello Gagini and an 18th-century…
Chiesa di San Michele Arcangelo ai Minoriti Churches
The 18th-century Baroque church on Via Etnea in Catania, designed by architect Francesco Battaglia.
Chiesa della Santissima Trinità Churches
The oval church on via Vittorio Emanuele, modelled on Borromini's San Carlino.
Chiesa di San Domenico Churches
A historic Dominican church in Catania housing Renaissance sculpture by Antonello Gagini and artworks from 15…
Chiesa di Santa Chiara Churches
The Poor Clares' church with a loggia for watching the Sant'Agata procession.
Palazzo San Demetrio Castles
The palace on the Quattro Canti, destroyed twice and twice rebuilt.
Palazzo Gravina Cruyllas Castles
The house where Bellini was born, which lost its main doorway.
Porta Garibaldi Castles
The arch that celebrates the centenary of the eruption that buried the city.
Torre del Vescovo Castles
The medieval tower of Catania, left on a traffic island.
Museo Biscari Museums
Prince Biscari's museum, which arranged its finds by provenance.
Palazzo Manganelli Castles
The palace whose hanging garden rests on the city walls.
Chiesa di Sant'Euplio Churches
The remains of the co-patron's church, destroyed by the bombs.
Fontana di Cerere Squares
The fountain ordered against a famine, then moved to the outskirts.
Palazzo Libertini-Scuderi Castles
A Milanese palace on via Etnea, with three names and no open door.
Piazza dell'Università Squares
The square where four bronze lampposts tell four legends.
Porta Uzeda Castles
The gate of a Spanish viceroy who once gave via Etnea its name.
Chiesa di San Gaetano alla Marina Churches
Four different saints on one stretch of street by the old harbour.
Chiesa di Sant'Agata al Borgo Churches
Built in 1669 for refugees of Mount Etna, this church features a detailed fresco cycle of Saint Agatha's mart…
Chiesa di Sant'Agata la Vetere Churches
Catania's first cathedral from 380 to 1094, preserving Saint Agatha's original Roman-Byzantine sarcophagus.
Conservatorio Vincenzo Bellini Castles
When Catania took Bellini's name, Palermo had to give one up.
Fontana dei Delfini Squares
Four dolphins, two real and two copies, in front of the Teatro Massimo.
Orto botanico di Catania Gardens
Founded in 1858, the Catania Botanical Garden preserves exotic plants, succulents, and rare Sicilian endemics.
Palazzo delle Poste Castles
The post office with the plan reversed: light to the public, centre to the mail.
Teatro Sangiorgi Museums
The theatre where a leading lady took the leading man's part.
Villa Cerami Castles
To dance before the king they covered an Assumption with an Aurora.
Clinica Clementi Castles
The tall windows at the top were there to light the operating room.
Garage Musmeci Castles
A hundred years of cars in the same room, under a baron's flat.
Giardino Bellini Gardens
Catania's oldest public park, developed from an 18th-century labyrinth owned by the Prince of Biscari.
Santuario di Santa Maria dell'Aiuto Churches
The Holy House of Loreto remade to scale inside a Catania church.
Terme della Rotonda Museums
Under a Byzantine church, the baths everyone took for a Pantheon.
Centro fieristico le Ciminiere Museums
Former 19th-century sulfur refinery in Catania redeveloped into a major museum and exhibition complex.
Chiesa di San Gaetano alle Grotte Churches
Built in 262 AD inside a lava cave, San Gaetano alle Grotte preserves Catania's early Christian underground c…
Chiesa di Santa Teresa del Bambino Gesù Churches
Catania's own defenders levelled these friars' first church.
Palazzo Rosa Castles
The house engineer Majorana built shortly before Ettore was born.
Riserva naturale Oasi del Simeto Nature
What is left of a drained marsh, still a fixed stop for migrants.
Chiesa di San Martino dei Bianchi Churches
The church of the brothers who assisted those condemned to death.
Chiesa ortodossa di San Leone Churches
A baroque oratory passed to the Greek Orthodox parish of Catania.
Fontana di Proserpina Squares
By the station, the daughter of the Ceres exiled to the Borgo.
Giardino Pacini Gardens
The garden whose sea was taken away in four stages.
Palazzo Asmundo Castles
Catania's second-largest hanging garden, above via dei Crociferi.
Palazzo Marano Giuffrida Castles
A private 1907 liberty building on via Umberto, off every itinerary.
Palazzo Mazzone Castles
The neo-Moorish palace Malerba signed three years before his liberty one.
Palazzo Tezzano Castles
The palace a doctor built at his own expense and gave to the city.
Piazza Giuseppe Mazzini Squares
Thirty-two Roman columns put back to work holding up four palaces.
Santa Maria dell'Indirizzo Churches
The Madonna who gave a viceroy his bearing, and the baths behind.
Museo di Zoologia di Catania Museums
The elephant Menelik II gave the king, and the king gave to Catania.
Teatro Metropolitan Museums
The 1955 cinema and theatre also signed by Marcello Piacentini.
Terme dell'Indirizzo Museums
The Roman hot room mistaken for centuries for a town hall.
Chiesa della Divina Maternità della Beata Vergine Maria Churches
Six bells older than the church itself, in a square in Cibali.
Chiesa di Santa Maria della Guardia Churches
The church that took its name from the lighthouse sanctuary of Marseille.
Chiesa di Santa Maria della Salute Churches
The church built around an image found abandoned in Picanello.
I.S. De Felice Giuffrida - Olivetti Castles
The classical palace Catania built for a school of accountants.
Museo arte contemporanea Sicilia Museums
The museum showing only figurative contemporary art, in a convent.
Archi della Marina Squares
The viaduct the city fought and the ministry imposed on it.
Chiesa del Sacro Cuore di Gesù al Fortino Churches
A parish built on top of the crypt of the executed at the Fortino.
Chiesa di Santa Maria de La Salette Churches
The neo-Gothic church copied from a French alpine sanctuary.
Chiesa di Santa Rita in Sant'Agostino Churches
The Augustinian convent the town burned after the plague of 1577.
Chiesa di Santa Rosa da Lima Churches
Windows, tabernacle and silver frontal made by a Dominican friar.
Fontana delle Conchiglie Squares
The obelisk and the four shell valves at the centre of piazza Cutelli.
Monumento a Giuseppe Mazzini Squares
The statue to a republican, raised before any monument to the kings.
Museo di archeologia dell'Università di Catania Museums
The university museum born from ten finds donated by Paolo Orsi.
Palazzina Abate Castles
The painter Abate's house, Tommaso Malerba's last language.
Palazzo Duca di Camastra Castles
The house the architect Tommaso Malerba built for himself.
Palazzo Pancari Ferreri Castles
The baron's palace Carlo Sada took nineteen years to build.
Parco Gioeni Nature
Catania's largest park, opened sixty years after the first plan.
Villa Ardizzone Castles
The floral villa on viale Rapisardi, and Catania's two Malerbas.
Villa Manganelli Castles
Ernesto Basile's only work in Catania, and it was never lived in.
Villino Citelli Castles
The gothic-orientalising villa turned into a university office.
Piazza Stesicoro Squares
The Roman amphitheatre ten metres below the level of via Etnea.
Faro di Sciara Biscari Beaches
Lighthouse built in 1896 on Catania's lava coast, automated since 1951.
Città della scienza di Catania Museums
The science museum inside the old Caruso Torrisi sulphur refinery.
Palazzo da pigione Tringali Castles
The block Fichera built to be let out floor by floor.
Palazzo Tremestieri Castles
The Rizzari palace, built over a Greek and Roman public area.
Piazza I Viceré Squares
The square built in imitation of the aqueduct the city demolished.
Lago di Nicito Nature
The lake made by one lava flow and buried by another.
Piazza Carlo Alberto (Catania) Squares
The baroque square under the canvas of the Fera 'ô Luni.
Teatro Giovanni Verga Museums
The cinema that became a theatre when the subscribers multiplied.
Palazzo Reburdone Castles
The palace of two brothers, one of whom never moved in.
Terme di Sant'Antonio Archaeology
Roman baths from the 1st century, rediscovered in 1997 beneath the Sapuppo houses in Catania.
Seminario Interdiocesano "Regina Apostolorum" Castles
Catania's archbishop's seminary, founded in 1572, destroyed in 1693 and reinaugurated in 1951.