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Mt Etna rising above Catania
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Catania
is located on the east coast of the island of Sicily, at the foot of Mount
Etna. The symbol of the city is u
Liotru, or the Fontana dell'Elefante, assembled in 1736 by Giovanni Battista
Vaccarini. It portrays an ancient lavic stone elephant and is topped by an
Egyptian obelisk from Syene. Legend has it that Vaccarini's original elephant
was neuter, which the men of Catania took as an insult to their virility. To
appease them, Vaccarini appropriately appended elephantine testicles to the
original statue.
The city has been
buried by lava a total of seventeen times in recorded history, and in layers
under the present day city are the Roman city that preceded it, and the Greek
city before that. Catania is famous for
its splendid Baroque and Rococo architecture. The city's building material
consisted mainly of gray lava stone.
It
is also famous for its fish market. The
best way to understand the importance of seafood on the Sicilian table is to
visit the fish market in Catania, which is as old as the ancient city itself. This is just a quick stop to take in the fish
market and have a café.
One way
to get more involved as a tourist is to buy something. The vendors were happy to shuck a oyster for
you.
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Anchovies
fileted while you wait
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