Catania: baroque at the foot of Etna

The day begins at Piazza del Duomo, dominated by a stone elephant from lava topped with an Egyptian obelisk, which has become the unofficial symbol of the city.

Just behind the cathedral, vendors' shouts and market stalls unchanged for generations enliven each morning at the Pescheria Market.

From here also starts the Via Etnea, which for over three kilometers points straight toward the volcano, framing its silhouette against the background whenever weather conditions allow.

Hidden among the buildings of the center, not far away, a Roman Theater closes the visit with its tiers in volcanic stone that survived medieval and Baroque building constructed literally over the ruins.

The very lava that has threatened Catania for centuries is what the city rebuilds with each time: a dangerous material that became, almost by necessity, its principal building material.

On nights of intense activity, the red glow of Etna is clearly visible even from Catania's center, more than twenty-five kilometers away in a straight line from the summit crater.