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Right at the heart of the city’s historic old quarter, you’ll find the beautiful Piazza Duomo with two great landmarks: The Elephant Springs from the 18th century, and Sant‘Agata Cathedral. The cathedral had been almost completely destroyed in several earthquakes, but was eventually rebuilt in Baroque style in the 18th century.

The city’s fine Fish Market is located right behind Piazza Duomo. Here you’ll see street drama, acted out by the town’s finest, with groaning market stalls, hard-haggling housewives and much emotion! Next to the fish market is the fruit and vegetable market, where you can buy meat, cheese and other delicacies.

Via Etnea is undoubtedly Catania’s best-known street, running right through the city from Piazza Duomo towards Etna. It is lined with numerous Baroque buildings and palaces, and is ideal for shopping.

This lava-stone fortress is located at Piazza Federico di Svevia and dates from the 13th century. Bad news, good news: In the 1669 Etna eruption, the flow of lava spared the castle and simply flowed past it – however, the coastline shifted a little eastward with the eruption. Consequently, the castle is no longer directly on the shoreline.

An excursion to Etna should be included on your To-Do list, as the view into its huge crater is truly amazing. The AST bus to Nicolosi leaves from Central Station daily. From there you can ascend to 3,000 metres by the funicular. However, the last few metres up to the crater must be tackled on foot.