Catania is the second largest city of
Sicily, situated on its
east coast and is the capital of the
province which bears its name,
Catania has about 340,000 inhabitants.
Catania is brooded over by Mt.
Etna, just to the north (it was named AEtna,
after the volcano, c. 480-461 BC).
Founded in the 8th century BC, the city was largely destroyed by earthquakes in
1169 and 1693. The first Sicilian university was founded
in Catania in 1434.
See also : Etna valley[?].
This article incorporates some information taken from
http://www.hostkingdom.net/ with permission.
All Wikipedia text
is available under the
terms of the GNU Free Documentation License