Description
Via Etnea is Catania's main street: three kilometers in a straight line north from Piazza del Duomo, toward Mount Etna. Its first stretch is a Baroque parlor of churches and noble palaces; then it becomes the street for shopping and the evening stroll.
The paving is Etna's lava stone. The stretch from Piazza del Duomo to the Quattro Canti is pedestrian; from there to the Villa Bellini only buses and taxis are allowed.
Right after Piazza del Duomo, with the Palazzo degli Elefanti that houses the city hall, comes Piazza dell'Università, with the university palace and Palazzo San Giuliano. A little farther on is the Basilica della Collegiata, the first of a row of churches that lines the street all the way to the Borgo.
At the Quattro Canti crossroads stand Palazzo Gioeni and Palazzo San Demetrio. Farther north, Piazza Stesicoro is surrounded by Palazzo del Toscano and Palazzo Tezzano; after the post office building comes the main entrance to the Villa Bellini.
The streets around it hold about a hundred places to eat and drink, from restaurants and beer halls to pubs and pizzerias: that is why Via Etnea stays busy late into the night.
The street was born from the rubble of the earthquake of January 11, 1693, which leveled Catania and killed about two-thirds of its people. The Duke of Camastra, sent to lead the rebuilding, laid out streets at right angles starting from the cathedral, one of the few buildings still standing.
At first it was called Via Duca di Uzeda, after the viceroy, and was about seven hundred meters long: it ended at the Porta di Aci, today's Piazza Stesicoro. It later became Via Stesicorea, and finally Via Etnea, because it points straight at the volcano. The palaces along the way were designed by architects such as Giovanni Battista Vaccarini and Francesco Battaglia.
In the 20th century the street pushed past the boulevards as far as Piazza Cavour, which the people of Catania call Piazza Borgo. There stands the Carrara marble fountain of Ceres, which older locals call 'a tapallara, that is, the goddess Pallas. From 1915 to 1934 the street even had the tracks of the tram to Acireale.
The paving is Etna's lava stone. The stretch from Piazza del Duomo to the Quattro Canti is pedestrian; from there to the Villa Bellini only buses and taxis are allowed.
Right after Piazza del Duomo, with the Palazzo degli Elefanti that houses the city hall, comes Piazza dell'Università, with the university palace and Palazzo San Giuliano. A little farther on is the Basilica della Collegiata, the first of a row of churches that lines the street all the way to the Borgo.
At the Quattro Canti crossroads stand Palazzo Gioeni and Palazzo San Demetrio. Farther north, Piazza Stesicoro is surrounded by Palazzo del Toscano and Palazzo Tezzano; after the post office building comes the main entrance to the Villa Bellini.
The streets around it hold about a hundred places to eat and drink, from restaurants and beer halls to pubs and pizzerias: that is why Via Etnea stays busy late into the night.
The street was born from the rubble of the earthquake of January 11, 1693, which leveled Catania and killed about two-thirds of its people. The Duke of Camastra, sent to lead the rebuilding, laid out streets at right angles starting from the cathedral, one of the few buildings still standing.
At first it was called Via Duca di Uzeda, after the viceroy, and was about seven hundred meters long: it ended at the Porta di Aci, today's Piazza Stesicoro. It later became Via Stesicorea, and finally Via Etnea, because it points straight at the volcano. The palaces along the way were designed by architects such as Giovanni Battista Vaccarini and Francesco Battaglia.
In the 20th century the street pushed past the boulevards as far as Piazza Cavour, which the people of Catania call Piazza Borgo. There stands the Carrara marble fountain of Ceres, which older locals call 'a tapallara, that is, the goddess Pallas. From 1915 to 1934 the street even had the tracks of the tram to Acireale.