9 times destroyed and 9 times rebuilt. Catania has risen from its ashes after every devastating earthquake. It was 1693, the year of the last earthquake that razed Catania to the ground: the Baroque style reigned in the world of art and architecture. The city was then rebuilt in this style, using the characteristic black lava stone. A choice that h...

Looking to explore the food of Catania? It’s one of Sicily’s most delectable food cities and definitely one for your Italy food bucket list!Hidden in the shadows of Mt. Etna, and overlooking the azure Ionian Sea, is the second largest city of Sicily — Catania. After the 1693 earthquake, Catania was rebuilt with wide market streets, towering buildin...

Fifteen minutes into the biggest game of his life, Alessio Panebianco saw the looks in his teammates’ eyes and realized: We’re gonna lose. This was on a sunny afternoon in December at the Stadio Giuseppe Rizzo in Catania, Sicily, at the foot of Mount Etna. Panebianco’s team, Briganti di Librino, was in its first-ever playoff, against San Gregorio,...

Eastern Sicily is a land of art and archeology,  closely linked to the ancient world, as evidenced by the many archaeological wonders on this part of the island. A welcoming land with a mild climate dotted with small and large cities to know and visit. In addition, Sicily is also rich in natural wonders that will make you want to return immediately...

If you are thinking of taking a trip to Sicily to discover the beautiful landscapes and history of the island, you absolutely must know all the food tours to include in your trip! There are many food tours in Sicily that allow you to immerse yourself in the most authentic Sicily and discover, in every dish, a piece of history, the culture of a plac...

Gloria Mertoli’s shift is over when the first light of dawn shines on the goalposts of a rugby pitch in the Librino district of Catania, a stronghold of the Cosa Nostra, the feared Sicilian mafia. Since mobsters torched the clubhouse and team bus, she and other players on the women’s rugby team, Briganti Librino RUFC, have taken turns to stay after...

A particularly powerful eruption of Mount Etna has created a volcanic storm that sent bolts of lightning dramatically across the sky over eastern Sicily. A volcano expert with Italy’s National Institute for Geophysics and Volcanology, said Friday that such volcanic storms are rare but can happen in particularly violent eruptions or with volcanoes l...

There are several ‘lucky’ spots in Italy where, according to popular belief, if you visit them or perform a simple ritual, often passed down through the centuries, you will get lucky. Some lucky spots you may have heard of include Juliet’s House in Verona, the statue of the bull in Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan, the statue of the Porcellin...

Mount Etna is the most famous of the Sicilian volcanoes. The locals call it Mongibello, or a muntagna and feel a mix of love and awe for it. It couldn't be otherwise. Its profile has always characterized the landscape around the wonderful Catania and its spectacular incandescent lava flows inspire wonder and dismay at the same time. Mount Etna is i...

From rubble to splendour. How did a small area of Sicily devastated by earthquakes become one of the world's most magical places? The year zero is 1693. On 11 January, a devastating earthquake razed more than 2,000 years of Greek, Byzantine, Arab and Norman history to the ground. What followed was a glorious reconstruction that in just 50 years tur...