Catania (province)

The Metropolitan City of Catania (Italian: Città metropolitana di Catania) is an administrative division on the eastern coast of Sicily, Italy. It replaced the former Province of Catania on 1 January 2015.

Metropolitan City of Catania

Cities

• 1 Catania — a busy city with a UNESCO World Heritage Listed Baroque centre. It's a university city and economic center, great for nightlife, the gate to Mount Etna
• 2 Caltagirone — a World Heritage town, famous for its ceramics
• 3 Militello Val di Catania — another World Heritage town
• 4 Aci Trezza — fisherman village on the coast of Catania
• 5 Fiumefreddo di Sicilia — Marina di cottone, it reserves natural neighbor very beautiful river that flows in a splendid sea
• 6 Nicolosi
• 7 Randazzo — the closest town to the summit of the Mount Etna
• 8 Riposto — a seaside town at the other end of the Circumetnea railway.

Other destinations

• 1 Mount Etna — Europe's tallest active volcano
• 2 Alcantara river with its Gole dell'Alcantara, deep impressive gorges carved by the river flow on the edge of Etna

Understand

Tourist information

• 3 Punto Informazioni, Via Etnea, 63/65 95121 Catania (Palazzo Minoriti), ☏ +39 095 4014070, turismo@cittametropolitana.ct.it. The info point of the Metropolitan City of Catania. (updated Feb 2017)

Get around

By train

Ferrovia Circumetnea

A narrow-gauge commuter railway line runs clockwise around the Mount Etna.

• Ferrovia Circumetnea. M-Sa. Borgo station, the line's terminal in Catania, is located next to the eponymous station of the Metropolitana di Catania. From there you could continue to reach villages on the slopes of the mount Etna. The other end of the line terminates at the town of Riposto at the sea shore (use Giarre for connections with Trenitalia ). Trains from either direction terminate at Randazzo, so change there if you want to go the whole way. NB: there are no services on Sundays and holidays. (updated Mar 2017)

Stay safe

Watch out whenever walking on the streets on the center because drivers can drive over your feet if you're not careful. Also, make sure you follow the main roads to and from your place of stay so that you don't wind up in some ghetto, because they don't seem so safe especially if you're a female or a solo guy. Otherwise, the main streets seem pretty safe, full of friendly Italians of whom a lot know basic English.