CATANIA, a city and episcopal see of Sicily, the chief town of the province of Catania, on the east coast, S9 m. by rail S. of Messina, and 151 m. by rail S.E. of Palermo (102 m. direct) . Pop. (1931), 222,503 (town), 227,765 (commune). The cathedral of S. Agatha, with relics of the saint, retains its three original Nor man apses (1091), but is otherwise baroque and there are other good baroque churches and palaces. In the west the huge Bene dictine abbey of S. Nicola (now suppressed) occupies about 21 ac. and contains the museum, a library, observatory, etc. This was the highest point of the ancient city, which lay almost entirely to the west of the modern Via Stesicorea Etuca, which runs for 3,00o yd. in a straight line towards the summit of Mt. Etna. The university, founded in has regained some of its former importance. To the south near the harbour is the massive Castell 'Ursino, erected in 1232 by Frederick II. The Roman theatre (no Greek theatre has been found) has been superimposed upon the Greek building, some foundations of which, in calcareous stone, of which the seats are also made, still exist. It is 106 yd. in diameter, and is estimated to have accommodated 7,000 spec tators. Close to it are the remains of the so-called Odeum, of similar plan to the theatre but without a stage, and to the north is the churl of S. Maria Rotonda, originally a Roman domed structure, perhaps part of a bath. To the north, in the Piazza Stesicoro, is the amphitheatre, a considerable portion of which has been uncovered, including a part of the arcades of the exterior already excavated. The external diameters of the amphitheatre are 410 and 348 ft., while the corresponding diameters of the arena are 233 and 167 ft. It is thus the third largest Roman amphitheatre known, being surpassed only by that at Verona and the Colosseum. Remains of many other Roman buildings also exist beneath the modern town, among the best preserved of which may be noted the public baths (Thermae Achilleae) under the cathedral, and those under the church of S. Maria dell' Indi rizzo. The number of baths is remarkable, and gives some idea of the luxury of the place in Roman times. The majority were excavated by Prince Ignazio Biscari (1719-86) . Some monu mental Roman tombs have also been found, and it is only from their position that we can infer the boundaries of the Roman city, for no remains of its walls exist.
Catania exports sulphur, pumice stone, asphalt, oranges and lemons, almonds, filberts, cereals, wine and oil. The harbour is a good one : 6,294 ships of a total tonnage of 3,196,452 entered and cleared the port in 1926, and 630,188 tons of merchandise were dealt with. Sulphide of carbon is produced here; and there are large dyeworks.
The ancient Catina (Gr. Katane, Rom. Catinal) was founded in 729 B.C. by colonists from Naxos, perhaps on the site of an earlier Sicel settlement—the name is entirely un-Greek, and may be derived from KaTCVOV, which in the Sicel language, as catinum in Latin, meant a basin, and would thus describe the situation. Charondas, a citizen of Catina, is famous as its lawgiver, but his date and birthplace are alike uncertain ; the fragments preserved of his laws show that they belong to a somewhat primitive period. The poet Stesichorus of Himera died here. Very little is heard of Catina in history until 476 B.C., when Hiero I. removed its inhab itants to Leontini, repeopled it with 5,000 Syracusans and 5,000 Peloponnesians, and changed its name to Aetna. In 461 B.C., how ever, 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 Syra cusan expedition (415-413 B.c.), and served as the Athenian base of operations in the early part of the war. In 403 B.C. it was taken by Dionysius of Syracuse, who plundered the city, sold the inhabitants into slavery and replaced them with Campanian mer cenaries. In the First Punic War it was one of the first cities of Sicily to be taken by the Romans (263 B.c.). In 123 B.C. there was an eruption of Etna so violent that the tithe on the territory of Catina payable to Rome was remitted for ten years. It appears to have flourished in the first century B.C., but to have suffered from the ravages of Sextus Pompeius. It became a Roman colony under 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 time the most important city in the island, to judge from the language of 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 Theodoric had fallen into ruins, as is clear from the fact that he permitted the use of its fallen stones for new buildings. It was occupied by Belisarius in 546, sacked by the Saracens in 902 and taken by the Normans. The latter founded the cathedral; but the town was almost entirely destroyed by earthquake in 1170, and devastated by Henry VI. in 1197. It became the usual residence of the Aragonese viceroys of the 13th and 14th cen turies, and one of them, De Vego, reconstructed the fortifications in 1552. 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 then it has not suffered from its proximity to Etna, though all land communication between it and Messina was cut by the disastrous eruption of Nov., 1928.
See A. Holm, Catania Antica (trans. G. Libertine) (Catania, 1925) F. de Roberto, Catania (Bergamo, Arti Grafiche, 1907) .