Description of the attraction
The Cathedral, dedicated to Saint Agatha, patroness of Catania, is one of the oldest churches in the city. It was destroyed several times by the earthquakes and eruptions of Etna, and subsequently rebuilt.
The first building of the cathedral was built in 1078 - 1093 on the ruins of ancient Roman baths by order of Roger I of Sicily, who liberated Catania from the Arabs. In those years, the cathedral looked like a fortified fortress.
In 1169, the church was almost completely destroyed during an earthquake. Only the apse has been preserved intact. A little later, a fire broke out, which also caused serious damage to the structure. But the biggest catastrophe happened in 1693, when, as a result of another terrible earthquake, which practically wiped out Catania from the face of the earth, the church was again in ruins. It was later rebuilt in the Sicilian Baroque style by Giovanni Battista Vaccarini.
Traces of the first, Norman, church can be seen in the transept, two towers and three semicircular apses, built from huge lava blocks that were taken from the ruins of ancient Roman buildings. And the cathedral received its present appearance in 1711. The three-tiered façade is decorated with Corinthian granite columns, which were probably taken from a Roman theater. Above the main entrance is a marble statue of St. Agatha, to the right of it is the statue of St. Euplus, to the left is the statue of St. Birillius. The wooden portal is decorated with 32 bas-reliefs depicting the life and martyrdom of Saint Agatha, emblems of the Popes and symbols of Christianity.
The dome of the cathedral was created in 1802. The 70-meter bell tower dates from the late 14th century, but in 1662 a 90-meter observation tower was added to it. After the earthquake of 1693, the entire structure was rebuilt and supplemented with a bell weighing 7.5 tons - this is the third largest bell in Italy after St. Peter's Basilica in Rome and Milan's Duomo. The porch, separated from the Cathedral Square by a white-stone balustrade, is decorated with five statues of saints made of Carrara marble.
Inside, the church traditionally consists of a central nave and two side chapels. In the right side-altar there is a baptismal font, at the altar there is a canvas depicting Fevronia of Nusaybin, and the grave of the composer Vincenzo Bellini. Also inside you can see the Baroque monument to Bishop Pietro Galletti. Particularly noteworthy are the Chapel of St. Agatha and the Chapel of the Crucifixion of Christ by Domenico Mazzola with the tombs of Kings Frederick III and Louis, Duke Giovanni Randazzo and Queen Constance of Aragon. Paintings from the 17th century have been preserved in the left side aisle.
