ADERNO  , a

town of the province of Catania, Sicily, 22 M . N.W. of the town of that name . Pop . (1901) 25,859 . It occupies the site of the ancient Adranon, which took its name from Adranos, a god probably of Phoenician origin, in Roman times identified with Vulcan, whose chief temple was situated here, and was guarded by a thousand huge gods; there are perhaps some substructures of this building still extant outside the town . The latter was founded about 400 B.C. by Dionysius I.; very fine remains of its walls are preserved . For a time it was the headquarters of Timoleon, and it was the first town taken by the Romans in the First Punic War (263 B.C.) . In the centre of the modern town rises the castle, built by Roger I.; in the chapel are frescoes representing his granddaughter, Adelasia, who founded the convent of St Lucia in 1157, taking the veil . The columns in the principal church are of black lava . See P .