Description
Piazza Duomo is Catania's Baroque living room: in the middle stands the lava-stone elephant that is the city's symbol, and around it the Cathedral of Saint Agatha, the City Hall, and a marble fountain that looks like a sheet of water. Almost every visit starts here.
Three streets meet in the square: Via Etnea, the city's main street, Via Garibaldi, and Via Vittorio Emanuele II. After the earthquake of 1693, the rebuilding of Catania began right here, where the seats of city government and of the Church had always been.
In the center is the Fontana dell'Elefante, which locals call "u Liotru". Giovanni Battista Vaccarini put it together between 1735 and 1737: an elephant of black lava stone, of uncertain date, with a granite obelisk on its back and its trunk turned toward the Duomo.
The obelisk, 3.66 meters tall, is covered with Egyptian-style figures that do not, however, form a real hieroglyphic inscription. Vaccarini restored the elephant, broken by the earthquake, and gave it white eyes and tusks of limestone.
On the east side rises the white marble facade of the Cathedral of Saint Agatha, also by Vaccarini. On the north side is the Palazzo degli Elefanti, the City Hall; to the south, the Palazzo del Seminario dei Chierici, joined to Porta Uzeda, with the Diocesan Museum.
On the south side, next to the Seminary, is the Fontana dell'Amenano, carved in 1867 by Tito Angelini: a young man with a cornucopia represents the river. The water spills over the basin like a veil, and locals call it "acqua a linzolu", water like a bedsheet. Behind it a flight of steps leads down to the Pescheria.
Hidden beneath the square are the Terme Achilliane, Roman baths from the 4th–5th century, four or five meters below ground. You reach them by a short ramp to the right of the Duomo's facade, along a corridor dug between the cathedral's foundations.
The Amenano River also flows under the square: the route through the baths takes you into the bowels of the city, where its waters pass. They are the same waters that rise in the fountain and fall back into the river, about two meters below the square.
The elephant nearly left. Shortly after the Unification of Italy it was decided to move the fountain to Piazza Palestro, but on May 30, 1862, a popular uprising stopped the transfer.
Don't miss
• The Fontana dell'Elefante.
• The cathedral's facade.
• The Fontana dell'Amenano.
• The Terme Achilliane.
Did you know?
• As early as the 10th century, the Arabs called Catania "the city of the elephant".
• The elephant has been Catania's official symbol since 1239: before that it was Saint George.
Three streets meet in the square: Via Etnea, the city's main street, Via Garibaldi, and Via Vittorio Emanuele II. After the earthquake of 1693, the rebuilding of Catania began right here, where the seats of city government and of the Church had always been.
In the center is the Fontana dell'Elefante, which locals call "u Liotru". Giovanni Battista Vaccarini put it together between 1735 and 1737: an elephant of black lava stone, of uncertain date, with a granite obelisk on its back and its trunk turned toward the Duomo.
The obelisk, 3.66 meters tall, is covered with Egyptian-style figures that do not, however, form a real hieroglyphic inscription. Vaccarini restored the elephant, broken by the earthquake, and gave it white eyes and tusks of limestone.
On the east side rises the white marble facade of the Cathedral of Saint Agatha, also by Vaccarini. On the north side is the Palazzo degli Elefanti, the City Hall; to the south, the Palazzo del Seminario dei Chierici, joined to Porta Uzeda, with the Diocesan Museum.
On the south side, next to the Seminary, is the Fontana dell'Amenano, carved in 1867 by Tito Angelini: a young man with a cornucopia represents the river. The water spills over the basin like a veil, and locals call it "acqua a linzolu", water like a bedsheet. Behind it a flight of steps leads down to the Pescheria.
Hidden beneath the square are the Terme Achilliane, Roman baths from the 4th–5th century, four or five meters below ground. You reach them by a short ramp to the right of the Duomo's facade, along a corridor dug between the cathedral's foundations.
The Amenano River also flows under the square: the route through the baths takes you into the bowels of the city, where its waters pass. They are the same waters that rise in the fountain and fall back into the river, about two meters below the square.
The elephant nearly left. Shortly after the Unification of Italy it was decided to move the fountain to Piazza Palestro, but on May 30, 1862, a popular uprising stopped the transfer.
Don't miss
• The Fontana dell'Elefante.
• The cathedral's facade.
• The Fontana dell'Amenano.
• The Terme Achilliane.
Did you know?
• As early as the 10th century, the Arabs called Catania "the city of the elephant".
• The elephant has been Catania's official symbol since 1239: before that it was Saint George.