A little after 2 p.m. on an impossibly muggy summer day in June, I squeeze my sweaty, 6-foot-1-inch body into the passenger seat of Antonio Puliafito's shiny black Maserati. As excited as I am about speeding along the Italian coast in a luxury convertible, Puliafito isn't showing off what his nifty '90s-era, 6-cylinder Italian sports car can do. He isn't even particularly interested in the ride, though we both relish the breeze after a punishing day in the heat.

Puliafito wants me to look at his phone. On it is a map of the area we're navigating in the hilly city of Catania on Sicily, the island just off the toe of Italy's boot-shaped mainland. The city dates back nearly 2,800 years, when the Ionians settled there. Today, Catania is home to 313,000 people, in addition to industrial, chemical and manufacturing companies like pharmaceutical maker Etna Biotech.