Day 10: Catania
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Catania Cathedral
The Cathedral, above and below, is dedicated to Sant'Agata. It is built with the defining material of Catania, black lava stone with white limestone trim. The church sits on top of the ruins of an ancient Roman bath, and was originally a Norman cathedral-fortress like we saw in Taormina and at Monreale. In 1693 most of the church came tumbling down in an earthquake and was rebuilt in the Baroque style.
Piscaria ~ Fish Market
The fish market starts in the early hours of the morning and closes around 2 pm. It is noisy as the fishmongers shout and sing their wares. Fisherman have sold their catch here for over 1,000 years. Their sing-song vocalizations come from an Arab tradition, as the market was most likely established under Arab rule. We took a lap around the tables and listened to the cacophony from the balcony area under the cute, colorful umbrellas. We also noticed that if you bought little fish (top right), the fishmonger would gut and clean them for you before you took them home.
Museum of the Allied Landings in SicilyThis WWII museum focuses on Operation Husky, which was the 1943 effort by the Allies to fight to gain a foothold in Italy through Sicily. The exhibits examine life before, during, and after the invasion. Sicily thus saw a lot of action in WWII with American, British, and Canadian forces all coming through the island under the command of U.S. General George Patton and British General Bernard Montgomery. They landed on July 9, 1943 at Gela and Syracuse. In 38 days, after fighting a hard and bloody campaign against the Axis forces, they had taken all of Sicily and were ready to cross over to mainland Italy and work their way north along the Italian peninsula.
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