ETNA 2

Area Information

With Mount Etna as its smoking backdrop, the scruffily ornate city of Catania is home to Sicily's food-lovers and young creatives, with a few modern surprises to be found amid its ancient history. Turn your gaze north at any point on Via Etnea, and you will be looking straight at the volcano that gives this long road its name. The main shopping street in the city of Catania is trained on the mountain like the barrel of a sniper’s rifle, although it is not oriented that way for the sake of the view, much the reverse. Via Etnea was built broad and straight to provide an easy evacuation route for the inhabitants of the city should the volcano blow its top. It is the emergency exit, not the front row of the stalls.

There are two fine spots in Catania from which to contemplate this sleeping tectonic dragon. In the morning you might go to Giardino Bellini, one of the city’s few green spaces. In the heart of this peaceful urban garden there is a high plateau that provides a perfect vantage point. Etna is grey and ethereal at first light, like the ghost of a mountain. Shallow slopes to either side and a dent in the crown make it look like an enormous felt fedora.