Page 301 - The Rough Guide of Sicily

in the first half of the eighteenth century by the Palermitan Giovanni Battista Vaccarini,
who was made Catania’s municipal architect in 1730. With the majestic cathedral as
his starting point, he produced a dramatic open space – kept traffic-free today –
softened by the addition of a central fountain, no less than a lava elephant supporting
an Egyptian obelisk on its back. The elephant has been the city’s symbol since at least

the thirteenth century, a talismanic protection against Etna eruptions, and this one also
features an inscription, Agatina MSSHDEPL – an acronym for “The mind of St Agatha
is sane and spontaneous, honouring God and liberating the city”.

The Duomo

Piazza Duomo • Daily 9am–noon & 4–6pm
Agatha herself is both Catania’s patron saint and the dedicatee of Vaccarini’s grandest

project, the Duomo, which flanks the eastern side of the piazza. The original cathedral
here was founded in the eleventh century, and built on the site of earlier Roman baths,
but of this medieval church only the beautifully crafted apses survived the 1693
earthquake; you can see them through the gate at Via Vittorio Emanuele II 159.
Vaccarini added an imposing Baroque facade, on which he tagged granite columns
filched from Catania’s Roman amphitheatre, while the interior is adorned with a rich

series of chapels. The Cappella di Sant’Agata is to the right of the choir, and houses
the relics that are paraded through the city on the saint’s festival days. Next to it,
entered through a fine sixteenth-century doorway, the Cappella della Madonna holds
a Roman sarcophagus that contains the ashes of the Aragonese kings – Frederick II,
Louis and Frederick III. The tomb of the composer Bellini, a native of the city, is set in

the floor before the second column on the right as you enter, inscribed with a phrase
from his opera, La Sonnambula (The Sleepwalker).

THE FESTA DI SANT’AGATA

Catania’s biggest annual festival, the Festa di Sant’Agata, takes place each year
between February 3 and 5. It’s a 500-year-old celebration of the life and death of the
virtuous Agatha, born in the city around 230 AD and destined for dreadful tortures
once she had spurned the unwelcome advances of the Roman praetor, Quintianus, in
252 AD: prison, whipping, mutilation and burning followed. The three days of the
festival see hundreds of thousands processing through the streets following a silver,

bejewelled reliquary that holds the relics of the saint. There’s also a procession of
decorated candlesticks, up to 6m high, carried for hours at a time by groups
representing different trades. On the morning of February 5, the saint’s relics are
carried back into the Duomo, where they remain until the following year.
Meanwhile, there are fireworks, food stalls, special services and concerts
throughout the festa.