Province of Catania

The province of Catania comprises fifty-eight cities totalling an extension of 3,552 square kilometres and over a million inhabitants. Catania is most renowned for its neighboring, European’s highest, and still active, volcano, that has played a decisive role in the city’s history. Catania has survived numerous disasters as were several eruptions and at least three big earthquakes numbering victims in the thousands always regaining its former splendor. Also renowned is the city’s devotion to its patron Sant’Agata, celebrated on 3 February by a procession of Candelore, huge candles carried by the devotees, preceded by a wooden chandelier where are portrayed scenes of the saint’s martyrdom. Other processions take place on the following days. Catania is renowned for being the birth-place of illustrious figures, such as musician Vincenzo Bellini and writer Giovanni Verga (born at Vizzini), and boasts an important culinary tradition that much owes to the province’s thriving agriculture. Much appreciated are the pizze and the scacciate (kinds of local pastries) and the seafood and fish cuisine, notably along the seaside.