Description
The Church of Sant'Agata la Vetere was Catania's first cathedral, from the 4th century to 1094, and stands in the square of the same name near the Roman amphitheater: a plain white stone facade for one of the oldest places of the cult of Saint Agatha.
Inside, a single nave. Near the entrance, protected by a glass case, is the wooden chest that for over 500 years held the saint's remains; in the presbytery, her first tomb, a Roman sarcophagus with two griffins and a Byzantine lid. Beneath the church, a crypt with ancient rooms and the foundations of the first cathedral.
When the bishop moved his seat to the new Norman Cathedral, the old cathedral became "la Vetere," that is, the ancient one. Destroyed by the 1693 earthquake, it was rebuilt in 1772 in plainer forms, as a Franciscan church.
Inside, a single nave. Near the entrance, protected by a glass case, is the wooden chest that for over 500 years held the saint's remains; in the presbytery, her first tomb, a Roman sarcophagus with two griffins and a Byzantine lid. Beneath the church, a crypt with ancient rooms and the foundations of the first cathedral.
When the bishop moved his seat to the new Norman Cathedral, the old cathedral became "la Vetere," that is, the ancient one. Destroyed by the 1693 earthquake, it was rebuilt in 1772 in plainer forms, as a Franciscan church.