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Italy, from Catania up
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An experiment that tourists could try, forgetting about what it is usually offered, is visiting Italy starting form the south up. They could begin in fact their Italian tour from the eastern coast of the big island of Sicily and from Catania, a treasure chest of Baroque architecture, built on the slopes of Mount Etna, Europe's greatest active volcano, and on the beautiful Ionian Sea.
This generous town rebuilt stubbornly over and over again by its bold habitants on the lava that has covered it completely during the course of its long history is well known in Italy as “The Milan of the South” for its great business activity and it is called also “The City of the Elephant” for a famous fountain situated between its cathedral and its city hall.
Catania was founded by Greeks. Later on it was conquered by the Syracusans and then by the Romans during their wars against Carthage. For this reason its visitors will be able to visit ancient ruins not different from those that are found in Rome and that include the Odeon auditorium, the Roman baths and the Amphitheatre situated in Stesicoro Square in which can be admired also the statue to the famous local opera composer Vincenzo Bellini. After the earthquake of 1693, that destroyed most of south oriental Sicily, Catania was rebuilt in the Baroque style, and it was in this period that were built many of its finest buildings.
The climate of this important Sicilian town that is outstanding for the exceptional quality of its food, for its sweets and especially for its ice cream, is mild almost the whole year round. This is the reason why some tourists from northern Europe, who are really fond of it, in the winter time might go skiing on Mount Etna in the morning and swimming at one of its beautiful sandy beaches in the afternoon.
Catania is very peculiar and is loved especially by people who look for a place with a strong character that can be enjoyed for everything it has to offer from the delicious fish just out of the sea to the spectacular streets populated by magnificent churches but it will be maybe remembered for the encounter with the warmth of its population, open and friendly, because of an ancient Greek tradition that has survived through the centuries. Foreign visitors, most of the time, will be impressed by their hospitality together with the striking volcano that inspired the legend of the Cyclops, the giants with one eye in the middle of the forehead that is nothing else but the red crater revisited by the naïve imagination of the ancient Greeks.
360 degrees Italy: tourists attractions
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