The port of Catania, once only a commercial hub, is today one of the most important “gate” in Sicily, since it covers a wide area including six of the former island provinces. It’s a melting-pot of people with the same wish of social and cultural integration to spread new knowledge and cultural models, representing the growing of a modern society open to social changes. A port to be loved with its history, its myths and its treasures.
If the ancient Greeks set part of their myths in Sicily and in Catania, it was not a coincidence: the island is an authentic paradise full of wonders of nature: starting from the majestic Mount Etna, the highest volcano in Europe, a true giant lighted torch on the sea that has driven here sailors on rudimentary boats, from each side of the Mediterranean. Here the Cyclops Polyphemus was grazing his flocks before meeting Ulysses; Hephaestus lived with his legion of smiths, the Titans, committed to making the thunderbolts for Zeus. Mount Etna, considered the biggest natural laboratory in the world, a World Heritage Site and a gigantic monument to peace. Under its “precious” slopes, Catania, the city of sun and sea, of the golden beaches and the black lava cliffs; it was repeatedly destroyed by earthquakes and eruptions, but it has always reborn from its ashes more beautiful than ever. You cannot remain indifferent to Catania, with its castles and towers, paved with basalt and dressed of sumptuous baroque, an Unesco heritage. A city proud of its hi tech industries and of its colorful historical markets, authoritative for its big and ancient University, happy for the nightlife of its old town center, with the largest airport in the south of Italy and a port reborn for cruises and motorways of the sea, known worldwide for its opera house, named after the Sicilian musician Vincenzo Bellini. Its passion is perfectly described when it celebrates its patron saint “Sant’Agata”, with a feast that is the third of Christianity in number of participants and lasts three days. A city that welcomes not only tourists, but also migrants, who fall exhausted on its shores as migratory birds escaping from wars and hunger. A peaceful city Catania, where no one is a stranger.
The port and the city give a warm and enthusiastic welcome to all tourists, yacht owners and cruise passengers, wishing them a pleasant stay.
