This was part of our Sicily (2026) trip.
(Click here to see all our trips.)
Today would be the last sightseeing day of the Sicily trip. We planned to spend the entire day in Catania.
Rei wanted to check out the local market first, so we left the apartment around 8:30am after breakfast. The weather was splendid! The first area of market was clothing stalls, which we were not interested.
Then we reached an area selling fish, vegetables and fruits. I asked Rei whether we should buy some fruit; he said no. But when we were about to leave, he bought a small bunch of bananas for 2 euros. You probably recognized a pattern by now: When I asked Rei anything, his first reaction was always to say no, then he would change his mind 🙂
Afterwards we walked to the Duomo Plaza to start the sightseeing. A lady at the ticket office suggested that we buy a complete ticket covering 7 sites for 18 euros per person.
We first visited Museo d’Arte Sacra, where the ticket office was located. The most prominent feature of the museum was its rooftop terrace, which provided a panoramic view of Catania, as well as a splendid view of Mount Etna! If you come on a clear day, the amazing view of Mount Etna alone will justify the entire ticket price. Despite a wisp of cloud, we had a fantastic view of Mount Etna, and we took many pictures. It’s lucky that we came early, because Mount Etna was later covered by more cloud.
I didn’t have a high expection of the museum, but it turned out to be a beautiful museum with many exquisite collections. Our ticket came with a small guidebook and a map, so we at least had some idea what we were looking.
We arrived at the cathedral next door at 10am, but we were not allowed to enter because there’s a mass going on. So, we instead went down to visit Terme Achilliane, a underground bathing compound with the entrance right at the cathedral yard.
Terme Achilliane turned out to be very interesting too. There were many signs in both Italian and English explaining the history and various features of the place. This was really great, because in many places we visited, there was information in Italian only.
We couldn’t entered the cathedral until 11am, so we popped into the nearby Chiesa della Badia di Sant’Agata, which required a ticket only for those who wished to climb the dome. Then we visited the another included site, Basilica Collegiata. The church was ornate like many other churches we had visited. The ceiling was decorated with spectacular paintings too.
There’s a large “candelora,” a gilded structure with votive candles. To light the candles, one would need to insert one euro. Of course Rei said no initially, then he changed his mind and inserted one euro. We took many photos of the lighted candelora to get our money’s worth!
University of Catania had a few buildings in the area. We also took a quick look before returning to the cathedral.
The cathedral was spacious and elegant but not opulent. It had beautiful marble floors. The cathedral was also built on top of a Greek temple, like many other Sicilian churches.
There were 3 Saint Agatha churches on the list. They were all close together, and were not far from the Roman Amphitheater ruin that I wished to visit. So, we went to the amphitheater first. The sign said 4 euros per adult, but the lady at the ticket office only charged us 6 euros in total.
There was a large area of the amphitheater underground that we could visit. The place was poorly lit and with minimal signs. We felt like walking inside a labyrinth, but it was an interesting experience. There was dripping water in some parts too.
Saint Agatha is the patron saint of Catania. She was originally the daughter of a rich family. The 3 Saint Agatha themed churches were where she was imprisoned, judged and martyred after she refused to marry a strong man. In the old days, women didn’t have free will. If a girl refused a marriage, men could get offended and found an excuse to murder her!
We were done with the whirlwind sightseeing around 1pm, and went to Pasticceria Savia to have fried rice balls, cannoli, cassatella and coffee. The place had 13.8k online reviews, and the food was very good. Rei commented that the rice balls were better than the one he ate previously.
Villa Bellini, a public garden, was only across the street, so we went there next. The garden was full of people. There was a very talented musician playing the electronic piano at the center of the park. The upper level of the park offered Mount Etna view too, but the mountain was covered by more cloud.
We then returned to the apartment for Rei to take a nap and for me to work on the blog. After more than an hour of nap, Rei felt refreshed and ready to explore more.
Our last destination was Museo Storico dello Sbarco in Sicilia 1943, a historical museum dedicated to the 1943 allied invasion of Sicily. In July 1943, US-UK combined force invaded Sicily from the south. They managed to drive Italian and German military forces out of Sicily in less than 2 months.
The exhibition started with a quote by Pope Pio XII saying nothing is lost with peace, but everything can be lost with war. There was an interactive display showing the timeline of US and UK driving Italian and German forces out of Sicily. It was pretty cool.
There were also displays of military uniforms and weapons of each participating country. In addition, there was also detailed information of how each US or UK division advanced. UK 5th division took Siracusa and Catania, while US 3rd division followed many sections of Magna Via Francigena to advance from Agrigento to Palermo.
Many precious lives were lost in the war. Italy lost nearly 5,000 souls, and Germany lost more than 4,000. Even the winning side US and UK each lost close to 3,000 lives! It’s a real tragedy.
The exhibition ended with a quote from Pope Giovanni XXIII saying that peace is the supreme best, forgetting it would be a real folly.
This was a somber one-hour visit. We left the museum around 6pm to return to our apartment. The museum was inside a compound with additional museums such as a film museum and an instrument museum. I felt Catania was an underrated city. It was more run-down than its glamorous cousin, Palermo, and was overlooked by many tour companies. However, there’re enough attractions in Catania to keep you busy. Moreover, it’s a great base for day trips to other places such as Taormina and Siracusa.
Since Rei took a nap in the afternoon, he didn’t need to go to bed at 7pm tonight. We went to the fish restaurant next door to have dinner. Rei and I shared a grilled sea bass and a grilled squid. Both dishes tasted good, but it required skills to eat a whole fish with bones.
Amy 'n Rei 