CATA'NIA. or CATANEA, a city and seaport of Sicily, situated on the e. coast, near the foot of Mt. Etna, 31 m. n n.w. of Syracuse. The fertile and well-cultivated neigh borhood of C., extending along the see.. base of Mt. Etna, is styled. " the granary of Sicily," and has given to C. the title. "La Bella Catania." By eruptions of the great volcano and attendant earthquakes, the city has been several times almost entirely destroyed, especially in the year 1693; but out of its ruins it has always risen with increased beauty, and it is now the finest city in Sicily, being built throughout on a beautiful and consistent plan, from which no deviation is allowed. The harbor of C., formerly good, was choked by a stream of lava in 1693, and the mole was partly destroyed, so that now it has only a roadstead, which is guarded by a fort, and serves as a landing-place. It has several squares, the finest of which, in front of the cathedral, has a statue of an elephant sculptured in lava. Among its chief public buildings are the Benedictine convent and church of San Nicolo, with one exception the grandest structure of the kind in Europe; the town-hall; the cathedral, with its noble granite columns; and the university, founded in 1445. It has besides many handsome churches and convents, and several educational and charitable institutions, and is the seat of one of the three high courts in the island. The inhabitants, formerly much more numerous,
amounted in 1872, to 84,397, and are distinguished by their commercial spirit and industry. C. has manufactures of silk and linen goods, and of articles in amber, lava, wood, etc. Among the remains of ancient times, that earthquakes have spared, are those of a theater, an odeium, a temple of Ceres, Roman baths, and an aqueduct. C., anciently known by the name of Catana, was founded by a Greek colony of Chalcidic origin, in the latter part of the 8th c. B.C.; and as early as the beginning of the 5th c. u.c., it was esteemed one of the most flourishing towns in Sicily. It was taken by the Athenians under Nicias, and was desolated by Dionysius I.; but again rose under the Roman sway into its former importance. Augustus here founded a Roman colony. It suffered at the hands of the Goths, but once more, under the Byzantine empire, became one of the principal cities in the island. C. gives name to the province of which it is the capital, and which is one of the richest in Sicily, with an area of 1743 sq. miles, and a pop., in 1872, of 479,850.