Description
Porta Garibaldi is the triumphal arch at the far end of Via Garibaldi, between Piazza Crocifisso and Piazza Palestro: a monument striped in black lava stone and white Syracuse stone, on the western edge of the historic center. Locals also call it "Porta do Futtìnu", after the Fortino neighborhood.
It was put up in 1768 to a design by Stefano Ittar and Francesco Battaglia, for the wedding of Ferdinand of Bourbon and Maria Carolina of Habsburg, and was called Porta Ferdinandea. After 1860 it took Garibaldi's name.
At the top is a clock surrounded by an eagle and by the elephant that symbolizes the city; originally, a marble bust of the king stood in its place. On either side are angels with trumpets and trophies of arms with the mottoes "Litteris armatur" and "Armis decoratur".
On the east side a phoenix rises from the flames with the inscription "Melior de cinere surgo", from the ashes I rise better. The motto suits Catania, and the arch also marks the centenary of the eruption of 1669, which had buried the western part of Catania.
It was put up in 1768 to a design by Stefano Ittar and Francesco Battaglia, for the wedding of Ferdinand of Bourbon and Maria Carolina of Habsburg, and was called Porta Ferdinandea. After 1860 it took Garibaldi's name.
At the top is a clock surrounded by an eagle and by the elephant that symbolizes the city; originally, a marble bust of the king stood in its place. On either side are angels with trumpets and trophies of arms with the mottoes "Litteris armatur" and "Armis decoratur".
On the east side a phoenix rises from the flames with the inscription "Melior de cinere surgo", from the ashes I rise better. The motto suits Catania, and the arch also marks the centenary of the eruption of 1669, which had buried the western part of Catania.