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See also: Sicily, the chief See also: town of the province of See also: Catania, on the See also: east See also: coast, 59 M. by See also: rail S. of See also: Messina, and 151 M. by rail S.E. of Palermo (102 M. See also: direct)
.
Pop
.
(1881) 100,417; (1905) 157,722
.
The See also: principal buildings are handsome, and the See also: main streets, meeting in the Piazzo del Duomo, are See also: fine
.
The See also: cathedral of S
.
See also: Agatha, containing the See also: relics of the See also: saint, retains its three See also: original Norman apses (1091), but is otherwise a large See also: baroque edifice
.
The monument of See also: Don Ferrando d'Acunea, a See also: Spanish See also: viceroy of Sicily, is a fine early See also: Renaissance See also: work (1494)
.
In the west portion of the town is the huge See also: Benedictine abbey of S
.
Nicola (now suppressed), the buildings of which occupy an See also: area of about 21 acres and contain the museum, a library, See also: observatory, &c
.
The See also: church, dating, like the rest of the buildings, from 1693-1735, is the largest in Sicily, and the
See also: organ, built in 176o by Donato del Piano, with 72 stops and 2916 pipes, is very fine
.
The university, founded in 1444, has regained some of its former importance
.
To the See also: south near the harbour is the massive See also: Castell' Ursino, erected in 1232 by See also: Frederick II
.
Remains of several See also: ancient buildings exist, belonging in the main to the See also: Roman See also: period
.
The theatre, covered by a stream of See also: lava, and built partly of small rectangular blocks of the same material, though in the main of concrete, has been superimposed upon the See also: Greek See also: building, some See also: foundations of which, in calcareous See also: stone, of which the seats are also made, still exist
.
It is 1o6 yds. in diameter, and is estimated to have accommodated 7000 spectators
.
Close to it are the remains of the so-called
See also: Odeum, of similar See also: plan to the theatre but without a stage, and to the See also: north is the church of S
.
Maria Rotonda, originally a Roman domed structure, perhaps See also: part of a See also: bath
.
To the north, in the Piazza Stesicoro, is the amphitheatre, a considerable portion of which has been uncovered, including the two corridors which ran round the whole building and gave See also: access to the seats, while a part of the arcades of the exterior has been excavated and See also: left open; the pillars are made of blocks of lava, and the See also: arches of brick
.
The See also: external diameters of the amphitheatre are 410 and 348 ft., while the corresponding diameters pf the See also: arena are 233 and 167 ft
.
It is thus the third largest Roman amphitheatre known, being surpassed only by that at See also: Verona and the Colosseum
.
Remains
' This is the See also: form vouched for by the inscriptions
.
of many other Roman buildings also exist beneath the See also: modern town, among the best preserved of which may be noted the public See also: baths (Thermae Achilleae) under the cathedral, and those under the church of S
.
Maria dell' Indirizzo
.
The number of baths is remarkable, and gives some idea of the luxury of the place in Roman times
.
Their excellent preservation is accounted for by their See also: burial under the lava
.
The majority were excavated by See also: Prince Ignazio Biscari (1719–1786), who formed an important private collection of antiquities
.
Of the ancient city walls no authenticated remains exist
.
Catania has a considerable export See also: trade in See also: sulphur, pumice stone, See also: asphalt, oranges and lemons, almonds, filberts, cereals, See also: wine (the See also: total production of wine in the province amounted to 28,600,000 gallons in 1905) and oil
.
The total value of exports in 1905 was £1,647,075, and of imports £1,326,055, the latter including notably See also: coal, almost entirely from the See also: United See also: Kingdom, and See also: wheat, from See also: Russian ports
.
The harbour is a See also: good one, and has been considerably enlarged since 1872; £128,000 was voted in 1905 towards the completion of the harbour See also: works by the See also: Italian See also: government
.
Sulphide of See also: carbon is produced here; and there are large dyeworks, and a factory for making See also: bed-stuffing from seaweed
.
The ancient Catina was founded in 729 B.C. by colonists from See also: Naxos, perhaps on the site of an earlier Sicel settlement—the name is entirely un-Greek, and may be derived from See also: KILT LVOP, which in the Sicel language, as catinum in Latin, meant a See also: basin, and would thus be descriptive of the situation of the town
.
See also: Charondas, a citizen of Catina, is famous as its lawgiver, but his date and his birthplace are alike uncertain; the fragments preserved of his See also: laws show that they belong to a somewhat See also: primitive period
.
The poet See also: Stesichorus of See also: Himera died here
.
Very little is heard of Catina in See also: history until 476 B.C., when See also: Hiero I. removed its inhabitants to See also: Leontini, repeopled it with 5000 Syracusans and 5000 Peloponnesians, and changed its name to Aetna
.
In 461 B.C., however, with the help of Ducetius and the Syracusans, the former inhabitants recovered possession of their city and revived the old name
.
Catina was, however, an ally of Athens during the Syracusan expedition (415–413 B.C.), and served as the AthenianSee also: base of operations in the early part of the war
.
In 403 B.C. it was taken by See also: Dionysius of Syracuse, who plundered the city, sold the inhabitants into See also: slavery and replaced them with Campanian mercenaries
.
In the First Punic War it was one of the first cities of Sicily to be taken by the See also: Romans (263 B.C.)
.
See also: Marcellus constructed a gymnasium here out of the booty of Syracuse
.
In 123 B.C. there was an eruption of Etna so violent that the tithe on the territory of Catina payable to See also: Rome was remitted for ten years
.
It appears to have been a flourishing city in the 1st century B.C., but to have suffered from the ravages of Sextus Pompeius
.
It became a Roman colonia under See also: Augustus, and it is from this period that the fertile plain, hitherto called the plain of Leontini, begins to be called the plain of Catina
.
It seems to have been at this See also: time the most important city in the See also: island, to See also: judge from the language of See also: Strabo and the number of inscriptions found there
.
In A.D
.
251 a lava stream threatened the town and entered the amphitheatre, which in the time of See also: Theodoric had fallen into ruins, as is clear from the fact that he permitted the use of its fallen stones to build the city See also: wall
.
It was recovered by See also: Belisarius in 535, sacked by the See also: Saracens in 902 and taken by the See also: Normans
.
The latter founded the cathedral; but the town was almost entirely destroyed by See also: earthquake in 1170, and devastated by See also: Henry VI. in 1197
.
It became the usual residence of the Aragonese viceroys of the 13th and 14th centuries . In 1669 an eruption of Etna partly filled up the harbour, but spared the town, which was, however, almost entirely destroyed by the earthquake of 1693 . Since that catastrophe it has been rebuilt, and has not further suffered from its proximity to Etna . See A . Holm, Das alte Catania (See also: Lubeck, 1873)
.
(T
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