Catania - Duomo di Catania

With a population of about 310.00 Catania is the second largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo. It is located at the base of the active volcano, Mount Etna, and it faces the Ionian Sea.

Catania was founded in the 8th century BC by the Greeks. At the beginning of the First Punic War, it was conquered in 263 BC. occupied by the Romans. In 535 AD Belisarius conquered Catania, which had fallen into the hands of the Goths and which, under Byzantine rule, once again became one of the most important cities in Sicily. In the 9th century, Catania fell into the hands of the Arabs. In 1071, Norman Roger I expelled the Arabs from Catania, installed a bishop here, and founded a Benedictine monastery. In 1170, a severe earthquake destroyed almost the entire city. 1197 were the rebellious Sicilians before Catania by the army of Emperor Henry VI. struck, after which the city was largely destroyed. Emperor Frederick II also razed the renegade city to the ground and built the Ursino Castle there from 1239 to 1250.

During the 14th century, and into the Renaissance period, Catania was one of Italy's most important cultural, artistic, and political centers. It was the site of Sicily's first university, founded in 1434. A major eruption and lava flow from nearby Mount Etna nearly swamped the city in 1669 and it suffered severe devastation from the 1693 Sicily earthquake.
The Catania Cathedral has been destroyed and rebuilt several times because of earthquakes and eruptions of the nearby Etna. It was originally constructed in 1078 –1093, on the ruins of the ancient Roman Baths. At the time it was a fortified church.

In 1169 it was almost entirely destroyed by an earthquake, leaving only the apse area intact. Further damage was caused by a fire in 1169, but the most catastrophic event was the 1693 earthquake, which again left it mostly in ruins. It was subsequently rebuilt in the Baroque style.

The current appearance of the cathedral dates from the work in 1711 of Gian Battista Vaccarini, who designed a new Baroque façade after the 1693 earthquake.

The dome dates from 1802. The bell tower was originally erected in 1387, with a height of some 70 meters. After the destruction of 1693, it was rebuilt.

I have already uploaded a lot of photos previously taken in Sicily. Now I will add only a few. If you want to see more, follow this link:

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