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Catania Sicily

Located on the east coast of the island of Sicily, at the foot of the active volcano Mount Etna. Baroque buildings and churches, volcanic rock beaches, markets and streets littered and marked by graffiti.

First impressions of Catania and nearby areas are not very possitive. On arrival I witnessed an attempted bag snatching and the theif left running barefoot empty handed. On my third day the draw of my departure was the event to look forward to. My main gripe is really the conservation of the city. What I find is a littered and graffiti marked city, not appealing to the eye or senses.

Attending the beaches really has been a shock, not used to 'Lido' beaches where you pay a fee to enter, of course you get conveniences like a clean beach, possibly a chair and sun umbrella, a choice of bar/restaurant to chill out, or even a small hut to keep your belongings. The best Lido I could find was Le Capannine, offering a sand beach, recreational activities for adults and kids, a good choice for families, bar and restaurant. In the evenings offers nightly entertainment for adults where you can dance in the open disco under the stars.

Of course there are free beaches too, but they differ as you have none of the conveniences mentioned above, and in Catania much rarer. Getting to the beaches means you'll need to drive or take a bus, where I prefer the beach at your doorstep. You have a choice of rock or sand beaches. Rock beaches are are simply places where the lava has once flowed and now hardenned, offing deep sea swimming in clear waters. The sand beaches are also near town but the further you go the cleaner the water gets, it is shallow and warm, but be warned about swimming next to jelly fish.

I prefer the all natural environment where the beach is free and your free to do as you wish. I'm a nudist and prefer to swim and bath nude, wearing wet trunks is like sitting in your pee'de underpands. What's the point? As a nudist I simply dry myself all over, let the sun do it, no wet patches, in the end have dry trunks to get into. But nudism is not accepted here (only descreet beaches accessed by car only), so I live with it.

I stayed at BAD CATANIA B&B and Design, stylish and chic (photos here), having taken the self contained apartment with kitchen and roof-top terrace with views of Etna (if the sky clears enough to see it - best time is in the early mornings). I was most impressed with a small patch of glowing lava on it side as I glipse Etna before heading to bed - of course this is at about three to four in the early hours of the day.

Catania is a small representation of Sicily, though I admit it does'nt draw me to see more of it. My Favourte bits are of the fish market. Breakfast consists of a sweet pastry along with a cappuchino, this is a high carb diet, and it shows especially on the beach! Having a kitchen means I can assemble mozzarella, tomatoe, fresh basil drizzled with olive oil, a dash of fresh pepper and salt - a refreshing meal after hours in the sun. What is it about Italian tomatoes? How do they keep their sweetness and taste? Home grown, home grown!

What once was the Hard Rock Cafe of Catania sits empty on the corner of Via Columbo, just across from under the railway arches near the old fish market. It sits on an empty lot littered by trash and old rusty planters that must have been filled with something lush and alive at one time. Across the street is Villa Pacini, a small park where people gather and sit in the shade. Its proximity to the entrance to the Plazza Duomo wuld make this a good location, but in Catania I don't believe Hard Rock Cafe was accepted.

By night the Plazza Duomo really has its ambience, the buildings come life! Though the streets fill with lost vagabonds that sit on pavements of sidestreets wth their poor dogs which almost attack anyone crossing their paths. I decided to take the small tourist train around the town to bettter understand this place, however it only confirmed the feeings I already had. Though there are monuments to see like the old roman amphitheatre and Greek Theatre called the Odeon, I was already put off by the state of Catania that not seeing them would mean I wouldn't have missed much.

In the Upper Palaeolithic the fauna of Sicily enumerated a host of dwarft elephants, a folkloristic history of Catania, a symbol of which can be seen in the Plazza Duomo. Inside the Catanian Museum of Mineralogy Paleonthology and Vulcanology there is the integral unburied skeleton of an elephas falconeri in an excellent state of conservation.

Catania has a history of volcanic proportions, in 121 BCE when great part of Catania was overwhelmed by streams of lava, and the hot ashes fell in such quantities in the city itself, as to break in the roofs of the houses. In 1693 the city was completely destroyed by earthquakes by lava flows which ran over and around it into the sea. The city has been buried by lava a total of seven 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. The city was then rebuilt in the precious baroque architecture that nowadays enjoys.

After World War II, the history of Catania is, like the history of other cities of Southern Italy, an attempt to catch up with the economic and social development of the richer Northern Italy, namely a heavy gap in industrial development and infrastructures, and the presence of criminal organisations. In the last years, Catania economy and social development somewhat faltered and in these years the city is facing economic and social stagnation.

The main street, Via Etna, has recently been restored to show off the unique Barogue architecture of the city, which really is impressive if you get beyond the litter and graffiti. After a few days in Catania I can't help but admit that the ciy grows on you, becoming desensatised, at night the side streets fill with with the humm of busy bars and cafes.

My end to Catania ended being a pleasant one, having stayed here a total of seven nights I got the chance to absord its ways, however I wouldn't consider this a first destination of choice, it just isn't free enough to be you, nore is it the place the place to be noticed, its raw and crude, people are intrusive, pushy and cruel, rules of the road don't exsist (like much of Italy), its filthy dirty and litterd, marked by graffiti, beaches are far from free and noisy and finding your own space can be hard to find.

Mount Etna is near and many times I wished this place to be buried again by lava, but after my fifth night here I really began to enjoy all the things I grew to dislike. I leaned that its best to just put on a different pair shoes, learn to chill out, not care about it and just enjoy yourself.

Why Catania? Because you simply don't want to do much anyway. You come here for great home food - some of the best. Your proximity to the sea, a rock beach or sand? You want to avoid tourist things and just want to chill... this may be the place for you.

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