Catania

Founded in the eighth century B.C. by Greek colonists who came from the Eubea region, Catania was subject to a long domination by Syracuse before being conquered, as all of Sicily was, by the Romans. Saint Agatha, the protectress of the city, was one of the Christian martyrs of the city during the persecutions of Decius and Diocletian. Over the course of centuries Catania was submitted to the domination of various peoples who conquered it and governed Siciliy and it saw periods of great splendour under the Normans and then the Aragonese. The university, the oldest of the island, was founded in 1434 under Alfonso the Magnanimous (1394-1458). In the early modern period Catania was a centre of secondary importance in Spanish dominated Sicily, governed by viceroys. During the seventeenth century it was also struck by two serious natural catastrophes: in 1669 a great flow of lava from Mount Etna destroyed part of the city while in 1693 a tremendous earthquake which destroyed the south-east of Sicily caused irreparable harm to Catania’s artistic heritage. The reconstruction, undertaken directly according to the project of the Duke of  Camastra, gave Catania the Baroque appearance it still has today, evident, for example, in piazza Duomo (photo) and in some of the important buildings of the city.