148 verified places · MICHELIN 2026, Slow Food Italia 2027 and 50 Top Pizza · no Eater coverage
Tap a route and it gets drawn on the map, stop by stop.
Tap a pin to see photos, rating and how to get there by metro, bus or on foot. Turn on a route to follow the numbered path.
This interactive map of Catania (Italy) brings together 148 hand-picked places: 56 attractions, 38 restaurants, 27 cafés and 27 shops. It also includes 5 walking routes with their stops in order. For every place you get what it is, a practical tip and how to get there by public transport. It is free, works on your phone and needs no sign-up.
· Curated by the HOLASIM team · How we make the maps
Tap a route to see it drawn on the map, stop by stop.
2.1 km · ~3 h · 7 stops · Piazza del Duomo, Via Crociferi and the largest monastery in Sicily · all UNESCO Val di Noto · tickets: Monastero 10 €, Biscari 10 € · 7 stops
1.6 km · ~2.5 h · 6 stops · the Pescheria, the market fry and the seltz · go between 8:00 and 13:00, Monday to Saturday · 6 stops
35 km drive from Catania · ~6 h · 7 stops · free up to 2,750 m, above that guide only · cable car 54 € return · 7 stops
9 km by car or bus along the coast · ~5 h · 6 stops · black lava, the Norman castle and Polyphemus's rocks · 6 stops
3.4 km · ~4 h · 6 stops · regional train from Catania Centrale · baroque, a double viewpoint and the walk down to the sea by the Chiazzette · 6 stops
Cattedrale di Sant'Agata · Historic Centre
Catania's cathedral, rebuilt after the 1693 earthquake with granite columns stolen from the Roman amphitheatre. Vincenzo Bellini and the relics of the city's patron saint rest inside.
Tip: Going in is free, but the Cripta di Sant'Agata and the Terme Achilliane are visited from the Museo Diocesano next door: you pay separately there.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 7-min walk
Featured in: UNESCO Val di Noto · Comune di Catania
Show on mapFontana dell'Elefante · Piazza del Duomo
The lava-stone elephant with an Egyptian obelisk on its back: Catania's symbol and the spot where every photo starts. Vaccarini set it up in 1736.
Tip: Look at the trunk: it points at the cathedral. Catanese legend says it is the elephant's gesture of respect to Sant'Agata.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 7-min walk
Featured in: Comune di Catania
Show on mapPalazzo degli Elefanti · Piazza del Duomo
Catania's city hall, a baroque façade of white stone and black lava on Piazza del Duomo. In December it turns into the screen for the Christmas lights.
Tip: The Christmas lights go on here on 8 December: if you come in November they are not up yet, but you can cut through the inner courtyard during office hours.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 7-min walk
Featured in: Comune di Catania
Show on mapFontana dell'Amenano · Piazza del Duomo
The fountain where the subterranean Amenano river surfaces behind a curtain of water. Catanesi call it 'acqua a linzolu', water like a bedsheet.
Tip: Take the stairs on the right: they drop you straight inside the fish market, which is the best way to walk in.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 8-min walk
Featured in: Comune di Catania
Show on mapPorta Uzeda · Historic Centre
The 1696 arch linking Piazza del Duomo with the port, cut through Charles V's walls. It is the threshold between the baroque city and the sea.
Tip: Walk through it at sunset: on the other side are the Dusmet promenade and the Archi della Marina with the port behind.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 8-min walk
Featured in: Comune di Catania
Show on mapBadia di Sant'Agata · Via Vittorio Emanuele II
Vaccarini's church with the best terrace in Catania: you climb to the dome and Etna, the sea and the whole baroque grid appear at once.
Tip: The way up is a narrow spiral staircase and the hours change often: ask at the door before paying, and travel light on bags.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 6-min walk
Featured in: Comune di Catania · Arcidiocesi di Catania
Show on mapBasilica Maria Santissima dell'Elemosina · Via Etnea
Stefano Ittar's concave façade, the most theatrical moment on Via Etnea. It goes unnoticed among the shop windows until you look up.
Tip: Cross to the pavement opposite to see it whole: from its own side the façade does not fit in the frame.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 5-min walk
Featured in: UNESCO Val di Noto
Show on mapChiesa di San Nicolò l'Arena · Piazza Dante
The largest church in Sicily, and it was left unfinished: the façade is a row of truncated columns. Inside, an 1841 meridian line is marked on the floor.
Tip: The gronda walk (the cornice up at roof level) is covered by the Biglietto Unico for the civic museums: 12 euros for 72 hours, and it also covers Castello Ursino.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 11-min walk
Featured in: Comune di Catania · Biglietto Unico Sistema Museale
Show on mapMonastero di San Nicolò l'Arena · Piazza Dante
One of the largest Benedictine monasteries in Europe, today the humanities faculty. Guided visit only, and the tour goes down to the kitchens and the Roman ruins underneath.
Tip: General admission 10 euros with the Officine Culturali guided tour; the 'Il piano segreto' version costs 12. Book by phone, the groups are small.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 12-min walk
Featured in: Officine Culturali · UNESCO Val di Noto
Show on mapMuseo della Fabbrica · Monastero dei Benedettini
Inside the monastery: the museum that tells how the building was raised over two lava flows, the 1669 one and the rubble of the 1693 earthquake.
Tip: It is included in the monastery's guided tour: no need to buy another ticket, but do say you want to see it.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 12-min walk
Featured in: Officine Culturali
Show on mapMuseo di Archeologia · Monastero dei Benedettini
The University of Catania's archaeological collection, inside the monastery: Greek pottery, Etna material and finds from the historic centre.
Tip: The Monastero + Museo di Archeologia combo costs 12 euros and is valid for a month from the day you buy it.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 11-min walk
Featured in: Università di Catania · Officine Culturali
Show on mapChiesa di San Giuliano · Via dei Crociferi
The heart of Via dei Crociferi, the street of convents that climbs in a flight of steps. Vaccarini's curved façade and a hidden belvedere upstairs.
Tip: Walk Crociferi at night: it is lit from below and completely empty. Four churches in 200 paces.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 6-min walk
Featured in: UNESCO Val di Noto
Show on mapChiesa di San Benedetto · Via dei Crociferi
The marble staircase, the arch crossing the street and, inside, an eighteenth-century fresco cycle almost nobody looks at. A Benedictine monastery still in use.
Tip: The Arco di San Benedetto spans the street from side to side: it was built in a single night in 1704 to dodge a city ban.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 7-min walk
Featured in: UNESCO Val di Noto
Show on mapTeatro Greco Romano · Via Vittorio Emanuele II
A 7,000-seat Roman theatre wedged between lived-in houses: from the cavea you can see balconies with the washing out. The city was built literally on top of it.
Tip: Ticket 8 euros, reduced 4, and it includes the Odeon next door. Down at the bottom of the cavea the water of the Amenano river still runs.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 9-min walk
Featured in: Parco Archeologico Catania e Valle dell'Aci
Show on mapOdeon · Via Vittorio Emanuele II
The small theatre, 1,500 seats, right beside the big one: it was used for rehearsals and recitals. Same ticket covers it.
Tip: You go in through the same entrance as the Roman Theatre: if nobody points it out, ask, plenty of people leave without seeing it.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 9-min walk
Featured in: Parco Archeologico Catania e Valle dell'Aci
Show on mapTerme Romane della Rotonda · Historic Centre
Roman baths turned into a Byzantine church and then into a Christian one: three layers of city in a single round building. And it is free to go in.
Tip: It is free and there is almost never anyone there. Short, changeable hours: check with the Parco Archeologico the same day.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 8-min walk
Featured in: Parco Archeologico Catania e Valle dell'Aci
Show on mapTerme dell'Indirizzo · Piazza Currò
First-century Roman baths with the vaults intact, tucked behind a square in the centre. Free and practically empty.
Tip: Free admission according to the Parco Archeologico price list. It is hidden: the way in is from Piazza Currò, not from the main street.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 10-min walk
Featured in: Parco Archeologico Catania e Valle dell'Aci
Show on mapAnfiteatro Romano · Piazza Stesicoro
What you see in the square is the tip of the iceberg: the amphitheatre runs on under half of Catania and once held 15,000 spectators.
Tip: Ticket 6 euros, reduced 3. From the pavement you can see a fair amount for free, but going down to Roman level is another thing entirely.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 4-min walk
Featured in: Parco Archeologico Catania e Valle dell'Aci
Show on mapChiesa di Sant'Agata la Vetere · Historic Centre
Catania's first cathedral, from the fourth century: Sant'Agata's body lay here for eight hundred years before moving to the new cathedral.
Tip: It is 100 paces from Sant'Agata al Carcere: both tell the story of the patron saint's martyrdom and almost nobody walks up this far.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 6-min walk
Featured in: Arcidiocesi di Catania
Show on mapChiesa di Sant'Agata al Carcere · Historic Centre
Built over the cell where tradition places the saint's prison, with a Romanesque portal reused from the old cathedral.
Tip: The stone portal is twelfth-century and one of the very few things in Catania that survived 1693 intact.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 5-min walk
Featured in: Arcidiocesi di Catania
Show on map'A Piscaria · Piazza Alonzo di Benedetto
Catania's fish market: fishmongers shouting in dialect, swordfish split open, live sea urchins and buckets of salt water. It is the heart of this map.
Tip: Open Monday to Saturday in the morning and closing around 14:00; no market on Sundays and public holidays. Before 9:30 you have it almost to yourself.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 9-min walk
Featured in: Comune di Catania · Slow Food
Show on mapViadotto Archi della Marina · Port
The 1866 railway viaduct that cuts Catania off from its port: lava-stone arches with the market and the chioschi underneath.
Tip: Under the arches there are fried-fish stalls to eat on the move: it is the edge of the market that stays alive once the rest has shut.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 9-min walk
Featured in: Comune di Catania
Show on mapPalazzo Biscari · Via Museo Biscari
The most spectacular private palace in Catania: the ballroom with its mirrors and rococo stucco, built on top of Charles V's walls.
Tip: Advance booking only and in small groups. Ticket 10 euros, reduced 7, and the visit runs about 30 minutes. Tours are in Italian, English and French; there is no Spanish slot.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 8-min walk
Featured in: Palazzo Biscari (official site)
Show on mapPalazzo Platamone · Via Vittorio Emanuele II
The Platamone palace, today the city's exhibition centre: Renaissance courtyard, exhibition halls and the loggia with a view.
Tip: It is covered by the civic museum system's Biglietto Unico (12 euros, 72 hours): the same ticket opens Castello Ursino and the Museo Belliniano.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 7-min walk
Featured in: Comune di Catania · Biglietto Unico Sistema Museale
Show on mapCastello Ursino · Piazza Federico di Svevia
Frederick II's castle, from 1239: the 1669 lava flow left it inland when it used to face the sea. Today it is Catania's civic museum.
Tip: Base ticket 6 euros; when there is a temporary exhibition it goes up by 4. The 12-euro Biglietto Unico pays off if you are seeing two museums or more.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 13-min walk
Featured in: Comune di Catania · Biglietto Unico Sistema Museale
Show on mapMuseo Civico Belliniano · Piazza San Francesco
The house where Vincenzo Bellini was born in 1801: autograph scores, the clavichord and the death mask of the composer of Norma.
Tip: The 5 euros include the Museo Emilio Greco, in the same cortile. And the Bellini name will follow you all over Catania: theatre, garden, pasta.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 9-min walk
Featured in: Comune di Catania
Show on mapMuseo Emilio Greco · Cortile Platamone
The graphic work of Catanese sculptor Emilio Greco, the man who made the doors of Orvieto's Duomo. Pure drawing, a quiet room.
Tip: It is steps from the Museo Belliniano and the same 5-euro ticket covers it: do not pay twice.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 8-min walk
Featured in: Comune di Catania
Show on mapCasa Museo Giovanni Verga · Via Sant'Anna
The flat where Verga lived and died, the writer of I Malavoglia, about the fishermen of Aci Trezza. Original library and furniture.
Tip: Read the first ten pages of I Malavoglia before going to Aci Trezza: the village in the novel is the one you are about to see.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 10-min walk
Featured in: Regione Siciliana · Beni Culturali
Show on mapTeatro Massimo Bellini · Piazza Vincenzo Bellini
Catania's opera house, from 1890, with legendary acoustics and a ceiling painted with scenes from Bellini's operas.
Tip: WARNING: it is closed for fire-safety works from 11 May to 31 December 2026. The season has moved to the Teatro Metropolitan and the Sangiorgi. Opera returns to the hall on 1 December with 'La bella addormentata'.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 5-min walk
Featured in: Teatro Massimo Bellini · Fondazione
Show on mapTeatro Metropolitan · Via Sant'Euplio
The hall standing in as Catania's opera house through 2026 while the Bellini is under works: the season's concerts and recitals happen here.
Tip: In November 2026 'Aimez-vous Brahms?' plays here (7 and 8) and the 'House of Puccini' recital (28). You still buy at the Bellini box office.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 6-min walk
Featured in: Teatro Massimo Bellini · official calendar
Show on mapTeatro Sangiorgi · Via Antonino di Sangiuliano
A 1900 liberty-style hall, the Bellini's little sister: chamber opera, jazz and contemporary music. It also took part of the 2026 season.
Tip: It is the loveliest room in Catania for a small concert and the tickets cost a good deal less than the Bellini's.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 4-min walk
Featured in: Teatro Massimo Bellini · Fondazione
Show on mapGiardino Bellini · Via Etnea
Catania's historic park, with terraces, palm trees and the floral clock that keeps changing its design. From up top you see Etna sitting above Via Etnea.
Tip: Climb to the 'labirinto' terrace: that is the spot where the volcano lines up with Via Etnea. Better in the morning, when the summit is clear.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 7-min walk
Featured in: Comune di Catania
Show on mapOrto Botanico · Via Etnea 397
The university's botanical garden, from 1858: a huge collection of succulents and cacti and a nineteenth-century iron glasshouse.
Tip: Open Monday to Friday 9:30-18:30 and Saturday mornings only. The Monastero + Orto Botanico combo costs 15 euros.
🚇 metro Borgo (FCE) + 9-min walk
Featured in: Università di Catania · Officine Culturali
Show on mapParco Gioeni · Viale Mario Rapisardi
The big park in northern Catania, built over an old lava quarry. Pines, playgrounds and a clear view of the volcano.
Tip: It is the best place in the city to see Etna with no buildings in the way, and in November it is at its best: green and with the heat gone.
🚇 metro Borgo (FCE) + 10-min walk
Featured in: Comune di Catania
Show on mapSan Berillo · Historic Centre
The quarter the city half-demolished in the 50s and which today is the most interesting stretch of murals, bars and nightlife in Catania.
Tip: Go at night and with company: it is a neighbourhood mid-transformation, with some blocks reclaimed and others not yet. The lively part is around Via Pistone.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 3-min walk
Featured in: Comune di Catania
Show on mapStadio Angelo Massimino · Cibali
Catania's stadium, in the Cibali district. 'Clamoroso al Cibali' was born here, in 1961, when Catania beat Herrera's Inter.
Tip: Checked as of November 2026: it is still called Stadio Angelo Massimino, with no sponsor in the name. The Cibali metro station drops you right beside it.
🚇 metro Cibali (FCE) + 8-min walk
Featured in: Catania FC · Comune di Catania
Show on mapSpiaggia nera di San Giovanni Li Cuti · Picanello
A cove of black volcanic sand and lava rock, with fishermen's cottages and painted boats. It is the most photogenic city beach in Catania.
Tip: November is not swimming season, but it is the best afternoon walk in town: go near sunset, when the lava turns orange.
🚇 metro Galatea (FCE) + 11-min walk
Featured in: Comune di Catania
Show on mapLa Plaia · southern Catania
The 18 km of pale sand south of the city, the exact counterpoint to the lava coast in the north. In winter it is an empty expanse with Etna behind it.
Tip: Out of season the lidos are shut and what is left is the free beach. I found no current bathing-water bulletin for November: if you plan to swim, check ARPA Sicilia that day.
🚇 by car or bus from Piazza del Duomo (6.1 km)
Featured in: Comune di Catania
Show on mapCastello di Aci · Aci Castello
An eleventh-century Norman castle driven into a black basalt crag that juts into the sea. The view from the top is the whole Riviera dei Ciclopi.
Tip: The basalt of the crag is older than Etna: it is submarine lava from half a million years ago. Cheap ticket and a 360-degree view.
🚇 in the centre of Aci Castello, all on foot
Featured in: Comune di Aci Castello
Show on mapRiserva Isola Lachea e Faraglioni dei Ciclopi · Aci Trezza
The rocks Polyphemus hurled at Ulysses, according to the Odyssey. They are columns of black basalt rising out of the sea 300 metres off the shore.
Tip: The reserve is run by the University of Catania: you can only land on the Isola Lachea on a guided visit with a booking. From the Aci Trezza seafront they look just as good and it costs nothing.
🚇 487 m from Aci Trezza, 6-min walk
Featured in: Università di Catania · Riserva Naturale Integrale
Show on mapPorto di Aci Trezza · Aci Trezza
The Malavoglia's harbour: blue boats, nets spread out and the faraglioni behind. Verga's entire village is still there.
Tip: Early in the morning the boats come back in with the catch. It is the same ritual Verga wrote down in 1881.
🚇 223 m from Aci Trezza, 3-min walk
Featured in: Comune di Aci Castello
Show on mapLa Timpa · Acireale
An 80 m lava cliff covered in Mediterranean scrub dropping sheer into the sea. It goes down by a stone stairway to Santa Maria la Scala.
Tip: The 'Chiazzette' is the historic stairway linking Acireale to the sea: about 20 minutes going down and a good deal more coming back up.
🚇 397 m from Santa Maria la Scala, 5-min walk
Featured in: Regione Siciliana · Riserva Naturale Orientata
Show on mapSanta Maria la Scala · Acireale
A fishing borgo of thirty houses at the foot of the Timpa cliff, with its lava cove and three fish trattorias.
Tip: Before you walk down, check whether the restaurant you have in mind is open: several down in the cove close for the season between October and November.
🚇 in the centre of Santa Maria la Scala, all on foot
Featured in: Comune di Acireale
Show on mapBasilica collegiata di San Sebastiano · Acireale
The most loaded baroque façade in eastern Sicily, with a balustrade crowded with statues. Acireale is the capital of Sicilian carnival.
Tip: Acireale is 25 minutes by regional train from Catania Centrale: it is the easiest and cheapest day trip on this map.
🚇 142 m from Acireale, 2-min walk
Featured in: Comune di Acireale
Show on mapVilla Belvedere · Acireale
Acireale's public garden, with the belvedere leaning out over the Ionian sea and, on the other side, the whole of Etna.
Tip: It is free and five minutes from the centre of Acireale. On a clear November day you see snow on the summit and the sea at the same time.
🚇 430 m from Santa Maria la Scala, 5-min walk
Featured in: Comune di Acireale
Show on mapCrateri Silvestri inferiori · Nicolosi
Two dead craters from the 1892 eruption, at 1,900 m above sea level, walked around in half an hour. This is Etna made accessible with no guide and no kit.
Tip: This is the Etna walk that works with kids: ash underfoot, full loop in 30-45 minutes. Bring a windbreaker: it is 10 degrees colder up there than in Catania.
🚇 658 m from the Rifugio Sapienza, 8-min walk
Featured in: Parco dell'Etna · Comune di Nicolosi
Show on mapFunivia dell'Etna · Rifugio Sapienza
The cable car that climbs from the Rifugio Sapienza (1,910 m) to 2,500 m. From up there the real Etna begins, the one that is ash and nothing else.
Tip: 54 euros return up to 2,500 m; the Tour 3000, with a 4x4 jeep and an alpine guide, costs 82. Open 8:30 to 16:45 with the last descent at 17:15, weather permitting. Check the volcano's status the same day.
🚇 in the middle of the Rifugio Sapienza, all on foot
Featured in: Funivia dell'Etna (official site)
Show on mapTerminal Montagnola · 2,500 m above sea level
The cable car's upper station, at 2,500 m: this is where the 4x4 jeeps and the guided trails towards the summit zone set off from.
Tip: As of November 2026 you can walk freely up to about 2,750 m on the south side; above that you need an authorised volcanological guide. Do not go above that altitude on your own.
🚇 cable car from the Rifugio Sapienza up to 2,500 m (54 euros return)
Featured in: Funivia dell'Etna · Guide Vulcanologiche Etna
Show on mapArea Sommitale ZPP · Parco dell'Etna
The summit area governed by ordinance: it is where the active craters are and where access is regulated comune by comune.
Tip: Rule as of November 2026: free up to ~2,750 m on the south side and ~2,800 m on the north; above that, an authorised volcanological guide is compulsory, groups of up to 10 and a minimum distance from the Southeast Crater. The Voragine, at 3,400 m, is out of reach.
🚇 authorised volcanological guide only, from the Rifugio Sapienza (south) or Piano Provenzana (north)
Featured in: Guide Vulcanologiche Etna · ordinanze Nicolosi/Linguaglossa/Castiglione
Show on mapMonti Rossi · Nicolosi
The double cone opened by the 1669 eruption, the one that wiped out fourteen villages and reached the sea, splitting Catania. A 40-minute climb on foot.
Tip: It is the free alternative to the cable car: a cone of red scoria, pine woods around it and a full view of the volcano. No altitude restrictions.
🚇 by car or bus from Nicolosi (1.4 km)
Featured in: Parco dell'Etna · Comune di Nicolosi
Show on mapMuseo Vulcanologico · Nicolosi
The volcano museum in Nicolosi, the village that is the gateway to Etna's south side: models of the historic lava flows, seismographs and lava samples.
Tip: Open Tuesday to Sunday mornings, and Tuesday to Thursday afternoons as well. Worth stopping in before you go up, not after.
🚇 210 m from Nicolosi, 3-min walk
Featured in: Comune di Nicolosi · Parco dell'Etna
Show on mapPiano Provenzana · Etna nord
Etna's northern station, at 1,800 m, flattened by the 2002 lava flow and rebuilt. Pine woods, recent craters and fewer people than the south side.
Tip: This is the north side: you get there via Linguaglossa, not Nicolosi, and it is about 90 minutes from Catania. In November there can be snow and the road can close.
🚇 by car via Linguaglossa (Etna nord), ~90 min from Catania; the road can close for snow
Featured in: Parco dell'Etna
Show on mapMuseo del Palmento · Santa Venerina
A palmento, Etna's traditional lava-stone winery where the grapes were trodden, preserved whole as a museum.
Tip: It is the context you are missing before drinking a Nerello Mascalese: the palmento explains why Etna wine is the way it is.
🚇 by car or bus from Santa Venerina (1.7 km)
Featured in: Comune di Santa Venerina
Show on mapBosco di Milo · Milo
Chestnut and oak woods on Etna's eastern flank, at 1,000 m. In November this is the forest of chestnuts and mushrooms.
Tip: The Ottobrata di Zafferana and the chestnut sagre belong to October and are over, but the woods are at their best right now.
🚇 by car or bus from Milo (1.4 km)
Featured in: Ente Parco dell'Etna
Show on mapRiserva Naturale Oasi del Simeto · southern Catania
The mouth of the Simeto river, a wetland of dunes and lagoons: flamingos, herons and migratory birds. It sits on the southern edge of the map.
Tip: November is passage season: it is when there are most birds. Bring binoculars and shoes you do not mind getting muddy.
🚇 by car or bus from Piazza del Duomo (11.4 km)
Featured in: Regione Siciliana · Riserva Naturale Orientata
Show on mapAeroporto Vincenzo Bellini (CTA) · Fontanarossa
The gateway to eastern Sicily, and the airport in Europe that closes for volcanic ash most often. In 2026 it happened in August and in September.
Tip: As of November 2026 it is running normally: the restrictions were lifted on 30 October, when the aviation alert dropped to orange. If Etna stirs, check your flight status before heading out to the airport.
🚇 RFI station Catania Aeroporto-Fontanarossa inside the terminal, or the Alibus from Catania (4 euros)
Featured in: SAC Aeroporto di Catania · INGV
Show on mapSapio · Piazza Antonino Gandolfo 11
The only MICHELIN-starred restaurant inside this map: Alessandro Ingiulla cooks modern Sicilian with island produce and a remarkable pastry section.
Tip: It is the only starred place in the bbox, so book weeks ahead. And watch out: the MICHELIN Italia 2027 guide is presented on 12 November 2026 and the awards may change.
🚇 metro Giovanni XXIII (FCE) + 6-min walk
Featured in: MICHELIN Italia 2026
Show on mapMe Cumpari Turiddu · Piazza Turi Ferro
Produce-driven Catanese cooking with a huge Etna cellar, in a room of old furniture and mismatched china. Double award: MICHELIN and Slow Food.
Tip: It is MICHELIN Bib Gourmand 2026 and a Chiocciola in Osterie d'Italia 2027: the best value on the map. Order the pasta alla Norma and a house Etna Rosso.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 2-min walk
Featured in: MICHELIN 2026 · Slow Food Osterie d'Italia 2027
Show on map4 Archi · Via Francesco Crispi 9, Milo
In Milo, at 700 m above sea level on Etna's eastern flank: Sicilian mountain cooking, mushrooms, meat and a wine list from the volcano.
Tip: Chiocciola in Osterie d'Italia 2027 and Tre Gamberi from Gambero Rosso 2027. It is 40 minutes by car from Catania, uphill: there is no useful public transport.
🚇 568 m from Milo, 7-min walk
Featured in: Slow Food Osterie d'Italia 2027 · Gambero Rosso 2027
Show on mapSazi e Sani · Catania
The only pizzeria on this map in the national 50 Top Pizza list: long-fermentation dough and Sicilian produce on top.
Tip: It sits at no. 82 in 50 Top Pizza Italia 2026 and is the only one from the province of Catania on the ranking. Book: it is small.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 8-min walk
Featured in: 50 Top Pizza Italia 2026
Show on mapScirocco Lab · Piazza Alonzo di Benedetto
Fried fish in a paper cone, pulled out of the market next door and fried to order. Squid, prawn, cuttlefish and anchovy.
Tip: No. 6 of the 100 best street food spots in Sicily 2026. The mixed cone runs about 7 euros and you eat it standing, looking at the Pescheria.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 8-min walk
Featured in: Guida 100 Migliori Street Food di Sicilia 2026
Show on mapPlante Lab · Historic Centre
100% plant-based Sicilian cooking that made it into the island's street food guide: proof that a Norma needs nothing but aubergine.
Tip: No. 15 in the 2026 guide, open every day from 12:00 to 24:00: it is the serious vegan option in the centre.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 10-min walk
Featured in: Guida 100 Migliori Street Food di Sicilia 2026
Show on mapMunnu Arancinu · Historic Centre
Catanese arancini: here they take an 'o', they are cone-shaped, and the war with Palermo over the word's gender is serious business.
Tip: In Catania it is arancinO, cone-shaped like Etna. Order the al ragù and the alla Norma; the pistachio one is for tourists but it is good anyway.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 9-min walk
Featured in: Guida 100 Migliori Street Food di Sicilia 2026
Show on mapGastronomia Il Faro · southern Catania
A neighbourhood tavola calda, the kind that turns out cipollina, cartocciata and scacciata all day long. Catanese prices, not tourist ones.
Tip: The cipollina (puff pastry with onion, tomato and ham) is the Catanese bite you cannot get outside the province. Order it straight out of the oven.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 26-min walk or a short taxi
Featured in: Guida 100 Migliori Street Food di Sicilia 2026
Show on mapTrattoria Achille · Via Plebiscito
On Via Plebiscito, the street of horse-meat grills and the hardest-core Catanese street food. A neighbourhood classic with no concessions.
Tip: Via Plebiscito is the street of chargrilled horse meat: if you have never tried it, this is the place and it is cheap. If it is not your thing, order salsiccia.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 10-min walk
Featured in: Guida 100 Migliori Street Food di Sicilia 2026
Show on mapAl Dusmet · Via Dusmet 121
Catanese sandwiches and food on the go on the port road, under the arches. Market produce and generous portions.
Tip: It sits on the Pescheria-port axis: a good stop after the market, once everything inside has shut.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 10-min walk
Featured in: Guida 100 Migliori Street Food di Sicilia 2026
Show on mapMM!! · Pescheria
A counter right against the fish market where everything served came off the stalls next door an hour ago.
Tip: Go before 14:00: once the Pescheria shuts, the day's catch is gone.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 9-min walk
Featured in: Guida 100 Migliori Street Food di Sicilia 2026
Show on mapPanificio La Farina · Catania
Neighbourhood bakery and rosticceria: Sicilian durum-wheat bread, scacciate and oven bites that the street food guide put on its list.
Tip: In Sicily the bakery is also the rosticceria: order the scacciata and the pizzetta siciliana, not just the bread.
🚇 metro Galatea (FCE) + 2-min walk
Featured in: Guida 100 Migliori Street Food di Sicilia 2026
Show on mapAntica Marina · Via Pardo, Pescheria
A fish trattoria tucked inside the market, with produce coming in through the back door. Crudi, pasta with sea urchin, swordfish.
Tip: Book: it is small and the queue on the pavement is real. Ask what came in today instead of ordering off the menu.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 9-min walk
Featured in: Comune di Catania · local guides
Show on mapTrattoria del Cavaliere · Historic Centre
One of the few still running the full Catanese repertoire: Norma, sarde a beccafico, caponata and horse meat. Open every day.
Tip: Open 10:00 to 23:30 every day, which in Catania is a rarity: it works for a late lunch or an early dinner.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 2-min walk
Featured in: Comune di Catania · local guides
Show on mapKm.0 · Catania
Sicilian cooking from nearby produce, a short menu that changes often and plenty of Etna vegetables. One of the names circulating hard on the Catanese scene.
Tip: Checked: it does not hold a star in the MICHELIN Italia 2026 guide. It is solid chef-driven cooking, not starred fine dining.
🚇 metro Borgo (FCE) + 9-min walk
Featured in: local dining scene (no MICHELIN 2026 distinction)
Show on mapA' Putia dell'Ostello · Historic Centre
Sicilian cooking and pizza two blocks from the Pescheria, inside the Agorà hostel: cheap, open at any hour and with a subterranean river below.
Tip: The hostel basement has a stretch of the Amenano river running through it: ask to see it, it is free and few people know.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 10-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap · local guides
Show on mapLa Cucina dei Colori · Via San Michele 9
Sicilian vegetarian cooking without solemnity: seasonal vegetables, pulses and pasta, in a small room in the centre.
Tip: Service runs 12:30-15:00 and 19:30-23:00: there is no all-day kitchen, so do not turn up at 16:00.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 3-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap · local guides
Show on mapFrumento · Historic Centre
Contemporary Sicilian pizza with ancient-grain flours from the island and Etna produce on top.
Tip: Order the salsiccia with Giarratana onion, or any of the ones with pistachio: those are the products you will not find elsewhere.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 8-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap · local scene
Show on mapFUD · Historic Centre
The place that invented spelling names phonetically in Sicilian ('ambergher') and turned the island's DOP produce into bar food.
Tip: It is a chain by now, but the Catania branch is the original. A good stop if you travel with kids or with someone who does not want fish.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 5-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap · local scene
Show on mapDOC · Pescheria
Mediterranean and Sicilian cooking on the edge of the market, with outside tables facing the Pescheria in motion.
Tip: Ask for an outside table at lunchtime: it is the best box seat for watching the Pescheria being taken apart.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 7-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap · local scene
Show on mapLa Paglia · Via Pardo, Pescheria
One of the market's historic trattorias: simple fish, paper tablecloths and prices that have not heard about tourism yet.
Tip: A Pescheria classic for decades. Order the fish of the day by weight and have them put it on the grill.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 9-min walk
Featured in: Comune di Catania · local guides
Show on mapFratello Vittorio · Historic Centre
Fish and crudi on the market axis, with produce that travels twenty metres from the stall to the kitchen.
Tip: The crudi (gambero rosso, tuna tartare, oysters) only make sense if the market opened that morning: avoid Sundays.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 9-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap · local scene
Show on mapLa Storia della Pescheria · Piazza Alonzo di Benedetto
Fried fish on the go inside the market: the most direct version of Catania's seafood street food.
Tip: It is one of the few things in the Pescheria still working once the stalls have been packed away.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 9-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap
Show on mapIl Sale · Historic Centre
Contemporary Sicilian cooking in a place that doubles as an art space, in the baroque quarter.
Tip: A good dinner option in the centre if you want something more polished than a trattoria without going up to Sapio's price level.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 4-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap · local scene
Show on mapRazmataz · Via Montesano
A historic Catania wine bar in the Via Montesano alley, with a long Etna DOC list and Sicilian small plates.
Tip: It is the easiest place in the centre to try Nerello Mascalese by the glass without driving up to a winery. Ask to compare two different contrade.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 3-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap · local scene
Show on mapEnoteca Civita · Historic Centre
A wine shop with a kitchen in the baroque centre: focus on Etna wines and small Sicilian producers.
Tip: It opens late (from 18:30 most of the week) and on Sundays at midday too. Ideal for an aperitivo before dinner.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 8-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap · local scene
Show on mapCurtigghiu · Historic Centre
Regional Catanese cooking in a courtyard in the centre: the name means 'courtyard gossip' in Sicilian, which is exactly the mood.
Tip: Order the caponata: in Catania it carries celery and raisins, and it is a different thing from the Palermo version.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 5-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap · local scene
Show on mapIl Maggese · Historic Centre
A pizzeria with worked dough and Sicilian produce, the kind that fills up every night with locals.
Tip: Without a booking, go early (20:00) or very late (22:30): the Catanese peak is at 21:00.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 9-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap · local scene
Show on mapL'Antica Brace da Peppino · Historic Centre
Catanese charcoal grill: salsiccia, horse and grilled meat with the smoke drifting out into the street. The most local format there is.
Tip: In Catania the grill is eaten late and standing on the pavement. Order salsiccia al ceppo and a beer, and that is it.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 10-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap
Show on mapFritto Siciliano · Catania
Sicilian frying on the go: crispelle with ricotta and with anchovy, arancini and panelle. The Catanese winter bite.
Tip: Crispelle (fried dough with ricotta or anchovy) are pure winter: November is exactly when they come back to the counters.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 4-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap · local tradition
Show on mapPiazza Scammacca · Historic Centre
A reclaimed courtyard in the centre turned into a food hub: several counters, shared tables and music.
Tip: Open Tuesday to Friday from 18:00 and at weekends from midday. The best option if there are several of you and everyone wants something different.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 6-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap · Piazza Scammacca (official site)
Show on mapRistorante Rifugio Sapienza · Nicolosi, 1,910 m
The refuge dining room at the foot of the cable car: pasta, pizza and mountain meat at 1,910 m above sea level, with the volcano right overhead.
Tip: Open 8:00 to 22:00 and it is practically the only hot food at that altitude on Etna's south side. Whatever you climb, eat here before or after.
🚇 at the Rifugio Sapienza, at the foot of the funivia (1,910 m above sea level)
Featured in: OpenStreetMap
Show on mapCrateri Silvestri · Etna sud
The bar-restaurant at the foot of the Silvestri craters: regional cooking and the terrace where you see the whole Catania valley.
Tip: It is the natural stop before or after the loop around the craters. Mountain prices, but the coffee costs what coffee costs.
🚇 580 m from the Rifugio Sapienza, 7-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap
Show on mapFaraglioni · Aci Trezza
Fish facing Polyphemus's rocks: the table with the best view on the whole Riviera dei Ciclopi.
Tip: Ask for a table with a view when you book, not all of them have one. And ask what fish came in: a long menu in a small village is a bad sign.
🚇 453 m from Aci Trezza, 6-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap
Show on mapMolo 7 · Aci Trezza
Pizza in the little harbour of Aci Trezza, where the locals have dinner when they do not want fish.
Tip: It is the cheap option in Aci Trezza and the one that stays open when the fish restaurants close for the season.
🚇 in the centre of Aci Trezza, all on foot
Featured in: OpenStreetMap
Show on mapLa Grotta · Santa Maria la Scala
The trattoria of the Santa Maria la Scala cove, literally set inside a lava grotto. Fish and nothing else.
Tip: WARNING: it closes every year from 15 October to 30 November, so in November it does NOT open. We left it on the map precisely so you do not walk down the cliff for nothing.
🚇 169 m from Santa Maria la Scala, 2-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap (opening_hours: Oct 15-Nov 30 off)
Show on mapIl Porticciolo · Stazzo
Fish in the little harbour of Stazzo, north of Acireale: one of those places where only locals still eat.
Tip: It is off the tourist circuit: you get there by car along the coast. Book, because out of season they open according to bookings.
🚇 by car or bus from Aci Trezza (1.6 km)
Featured in: OpenStreetMap
Show on mapAntico Orto dei Limoni · Nicolosi
Etna cooking in Nicolosi, the village at the volcano's door: mushrooms, cured meats and homemade pasta at 700 m above sea level.
Tip: November is Etna porcini season: ask whether they have any and order them grilled, plain.
🚇 423 m from Nicolosi, 5-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap
Show on mapSavia · Via Etnea 302-304
The pastry shop and tavola calda facing the Giardino Bellini, open since 1897: arancini, cannoli and the best sweet counter in Catania.
Tip: It is the Catanese ritual: an arancino standing at the counter and then a cannolo. Open Tuesday to Sunday 7:45-21:30, closed Mondays.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 6-min walk
Featured in: Guida 100 Migliori Street Food di Sicilia 2026 · official site
Show on mapSpinella · Via Etnea
Savia's historic rival, thirty paces away: cassata, minne di Sant'Agata and a coffee counter that never stops.
Tip: The 'minne di Sant'Agata' (or cassatelle) are the patron saint's sweet: a ricotta bun under white icing with a cherry on top. You can get them here all year round.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 6-min walk
Featured in: Guida 100 Migliori Street Food di Sicilia 2026
Show on mapPrestipino · Via Etnea 34
Bar and pastry shop on the busiest stretch of Via Etnea, with its window of iris, cannoli and paste di mandorla facing the street.
Tip: The iris fritta is Catanese: a bun filled with ricotta and chocolate, breaded and fried. Order it warm, not one from this morning.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 6-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap · local tradition
Show on mapPrestipino · Piazza Duomo 1
The branch with its tables looking at the elephant and the cathedral: the most scenic breakfast in Catania.
Tip: At the counter you pay the normal price; at a table on the square, double. In Italy that is legal and it is printed on the menu: decide before you sit down.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 8-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap
Show on mapCondorelli · Historic Centre
The best-known torrone and almond-sweet brand in the province, with a shop-bar in the centre.
Tip: The almond and the pistachio torroncino are the safest edible souvenir from Catania: they travel well and do not break.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 3-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap
Show on mapPrivitera · Catania
A neighbourhood pastry shop with a café: the tourist-free version of the Catanese morning ritual.
Tip: Look for the tray of 'dolcetti di mandorla': in neighbourhood places they are better made and cost half what they do on Via Etnea.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 12-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap
Show on mapGrimaldi · Borgo
A Borgo classic, the quarter above the Giardino Bellini, where the Catanesi on their way to work have breakfast.
Tip: The Borgo is the quarter where the city stops being a postcard. Get off at the Borgo metro station and have breakfast here.
🚇 metro Borgo (FCE) + 3-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap
Show on mapTestaì · Catania
A Catanese pastry shop of the kind that makes cassata properly, with sheep's ricotta and green marzipan.
Tip: You can tell a good cassata by the ricotta: if it is grainy, do not buy it. And eat it cold, not out of a display fridge in the sun.
🚇 metro Giuffrida (FCE) + 5-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap
Show on mapIllum · Historic Centre
A contemporary pastry shop in the centre: the new line of Catanese baking, with less sugar and more produce.
Tip: It is the modern counterpoint to Savia and Spinella: if you have already done the classic circuit, come here to see where things are heading.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 6-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap
Show on mapZuccaro · Via Vittorio Emanuele II 75
Bakery and pastry shop on the street dropping down from the Duomo: bread, sweets and oven bites straight out of the oven.
Tip: In Sicily 'zuccaro' is dialect for sugar. Order a 'cornetto alla crema' and a caffè, which is the real breakfast.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 7-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap
Show on mapChiosco Giammona · Viale Africa
One of the historic chioschi of seltz limone e sale: sparkling water pulled on the spot, half a lemon squeezed in and a pinch of salt.
Tip: Ask for 'seltz limone e sale'. If you want the full version, add tamarind or mint syrup. Open every day 8:00-22:00.
🚇 metro Italia (FCE) + 5-min walk
Featured in: Catanese tradition · Gambero Rosso
Show on mapChiosco Costa · Catania
Another of Catania's historic chioschi, one of those that still pull the seltz from the siphon and not from a bottle.
Tip: The difference between a good chiosco and a touristy one is the siphon: if the water comes out of a bottle, it is something else.
🚇 metro Cibali (FCE) + 13-min walk
Featured in: Catanese tradition
Show on mapChiosco Dusmet · Port
The chiosco on the port promenade, under the Archi della Marina: seltz, granita and people at any hour.
Tip: It is the seafront chiosco: a good stop after the Pescheria, on the way to the port.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 8-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap · Catanese tradition
Show on mapChiosco Bellini · Giardino Bellini
The counter in the Bellini garden, under the ficus trees: seltz, coffee and the slow rhythm of the park.
Tip: Pair it with the Giardino Bellini terrace: seltz down below, Etna viewpoint up top, and all of it free except the glass.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 7-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap · Catanese tradition
Show on mapChiosco della Pescheria · Piazza Alonzo di Benedetto
The chiosco wedged against the market: it opens at 8:00 and shuts at 22:00, so it is the only one that covers your whole day.
Tip: It is the easiest meeting point in the centre: everyone knows where it is and it opens every day.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 9-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap
Show on mapChiosco Italia · Corso Italia
The Corso Italia chiosco, on Catania's smart axis: seltz, granita and neighbourhood chat.
Tip: Open Monday to Saturday 6:30-22:30, closed Sundays. It is the natural halfway stop on the Corso Italia shopping run.
🚇 metro Italia (FCE) + 2-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap
Show on mapBar Ernesto · Ognina
A historic Ognina bar with small-hours opening: granita, brioche col tuppo and breakfast for the people coming off a shift.
Tip: Granita with brioche col tuppo is breakfast, not dessert. In November not every bar still serves it: ask before you sit down.
🚇 metro Galatea (FCE) + 17-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap · official site
Show on mapCanusciuti · Historic Centre
A contemporary Sicilian café that the 2026 street food guide put in the island's top 11.
Tip: No. 11 of the 100 best street food spots in Sicily 2026. Open Tuesday to Sunday from 11:00 to 23:00: it works for the afternoon too.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 9-min walk
Featured in: Guida 100 Migliori Street Food di Sicilia 2026
Show on mapBar Rifugio Sapienza · Etna, 1,910 m
The CAI bar at the foot of the cable car: hot coffee, panini and the refuge where you wait for the mist to lift.
Tip: Open 8:30-20:00 and run by CAI Catania. In November it is genuinely cold up there: the coffee here is part of the plan.
🚇 at the Rifugio Sapienza, at the foot of the funivia (1,910 m above sea level)
Featured in: OpenStreetMap · CAI Catania
Show on mapOrazio Cordai · Acireale
An Acireale gelato and granita shop that broke into the top 5 of Sicilian street food 2026. Acireale is serious granita country.
Tip: No. 4 of the 100 best street food spots in Sicily 2026, and the only one from the province of Catania in the top 10. Order almond granita and brioche.
🚇 161 m from Acireale, 2-min walk
Featured in: Guida 100 Migliori Street Food di Sicilia 2026
Show on mapDolceria Bella · Acireale
An Acireale pastry shop: cassata, cannoli and paste di mandorla in the baroque town on the coast.
Tip: Acireale has a reputation for pastry even within Sicily: if you make the day trip, leave room for the sweets.
🚇 258 m from Acireale, 3-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap
Show on mapCastorina · Acireale
Another Acireale institution, one of those that make frutta martorana by hand for the Festa dei Morti.
Tip: Frutta martorana is marzipan painted to look like fruit: it is made above all for 2 November, so right now you can still get it fresh.
🚇 443 m from Acireale, 6-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap · Sicilian tradition
Show on mapAntica Dolceria dell'Etna · Zafferana Etnea
In Zafferana, the village of Etna honey: pastry, ice cream and sweets made with local honey and pistachio.
Tip: Zafferana is the capital of Etna honey. Buy chestnut or orange-blossom honey straight from here, not from a souvenir shop in the centre.
🚇 175 m from Zafferana Etnea, 2-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap
Show on mapÈ Tipico · Zafferana Etnea
Pastry and typical Etna products in Zafferana: preserves, honey, pistachio and mountain sweets.
Tip: This is the shopping stop for eastern Etna. Worth knowing: pistacchio di Bronte DOP is harvested only in odd years, so what you buy now is from the 2025 crop.
🚇 320 m from Zafferana Etnea, 4-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap
Show on mapPasticceria Russo · Santa Venerina
A Santa Venerina institution, on the eastern flank: artisan panettone, almond sweets and a production that ships across half of Italy.
Tip: From November the Sicilian artisan panettone season begins, with pistachio and citrus: it is now or never.
🚇 177 m from Santa Venerina, 2-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap
Show on mapIsola del Dolce · Aci Trezza
Bar and pastry shop facing the sea at Aci Trezza, with the faraglioni poking up between the tables.
Tip: It is the best cheap way to spend an hour in front of Polyphemus's rocks: granita, brioche and nothing else.
🚇 257 m from Aci Trezza, 3-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap
Show on mapLegatoria Prampolini · Historic Centre
A historic bookbindery turned café-bookshop: the quiet corner of the baroque centre, with books and small tables.
Tip: If it rains, this is the best shelter in the centre: coffee, books and nobody rushing you.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 12-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap
Show on mapLa Rinascente · Via Etnea 157
The historic Italian department store right on Via Etnea: fashion, beauty and the Sicilian food floor.
Tip: Open Monday to Saturday 9:30-21:00 and Sundays 10:00-21:00. It is one of the few places in the centre that does not close at midday.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 4-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap · official site
Show on mapCoin · Via Etnea
The other big department store on Via Etnea: clothes, home and a good Italian design section.
Tip: Via Etnea is Catania's shopping axis, three straight kilometres pointing at Etna. The good stretch runs from the Duomo to Villa Bellini.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 3-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap
Show on mapGalleria Bellini · Sant'Agata li Battiati
A covered shopping gallery in Sant'Agata li Battiati, the first town north of Catania: Italian brands and shelter when it rains.
Tip: It is not in the centre: it sits 5 km north, in the Sant'Agata li Battiati belt. Useful if you are driving and it rains.
🚇 by car from Catania: 5 km north along Via Etnea / Sant'Agata li Battiati
Featured in: OpenStreetMap
Show on mapEtnapolis · Belpasso
The province's big mall, designed by Massimiliano Fuksas: a glass hull in the middle of open country, at the foot of Etna.
Tip: Worth it even if you buy nothing: the building is by Fuksas and you can see Etna from the car park. It is 20 minutes by car from Catania.
🚇 by car or bus from Misterbianco (5.6 km)
Featured in: OpenStreetMap · official site
Show on mapCentro Sicilia · Misterbianco
The big mall on the western side of the metropolitan area, in Misterbianco territory, on the way out towards Palermo.
Tip: Open seven days from 9:30 to 21:00, Sundays included: in Sicily that is not a given. It is about 6 km from the airport, by car.
🚇 by car or bus from Misterbianco (4.8 km)
Featured in: OpenStreetMap
Show on mapI Portali · San Giovanni La Punta
A shopping centre north of Catania, in the area of the Etna villages: brands, cinema and a supermarket.
Tip: It sits on the way up to the Etna villages: useful if you rent a car and drive up to Trecastagni or Viagrande.
🚇 by car or bus from San Giovanni la Punta (1.2 km)
Featured in: OpenStreetMap · official site
Show on mapCeramica di Caltagirone · Historic Centre
Caltagirone ceramics in Catania: the moor's heads, the pigne and the hand-painted plates from the province's pottery town.
Tip: WARNING: Caltagirone ceramics do NOT yet carry an official mark. The IGP was approved by the Regione in June 2026 and is still going through the European process. In the meantime, look at the base of the piece: if it is signed by the workshop, hand-painted with uneven brushstrokes and carries no decal or perfect mould, it is handmade. And ask for the ceramist's name.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 9-min walk
Featured in: Regione Siciliana (IGP pending, Jun 2026)
Show on mapCeramiche di Caltagirone · Acireale
A workshop-shop of Caltagirone ceramics in Acireale, with large pieces and the classic Sicilian repertoire.
Tip: Same criterion: with no official mark yet, the guarantee is the workshop. Ask them where the piece was made and who painted it; a serious shop answers without hesitating.
🚇 112 m from Acireale, 1-min walk
Featured in: Regione Siciliana (IGP pending, Jun 2026)
Show on mapCeramiche De Simone · Corso Italia 116, Giarre
Signature Sicilian ceramics in Giarre, with the recognisable figurative style of the De Simone house.
Tip: It is a style of its own, not the generic souvenir repertoire: if you want a piece that reads as Sicilian without being the cliché, this is it.
🚇 regional train to Giarre-Riposto + 7-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap
Show on mapAntica Bottega dei Fratelli Napoli · Catania
The workshop of the Fratelli Napoli pupari, the historic company of Catania's Opera dei Pupi: armoured puppets, workshops and shows.
Tip: The Opera dei Pupi has been UNESCO Intangible Heritage since 2001. The Fratelli Napoli programme by event, not every day: write to them first. A ticket runs about 12 euros.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 13-min walk
Featured in: UNESCO Intangible Heritage · Fratelli Napoli
Show on mapSapori Perduti · Catania
A Sicilian grocery: pistachio, Etna honey, preserves, cheeses and cured meats from the province.
Tip: For taking food home: pistacchio di Bronte DOP, Etna honey and sun-dried tomato clear customs without drama. Fresh cheese does not.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 7-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap
Show on mapOro d'Etna · Zafferana Etnea
The shop of the Costa azienda agricola in Zafferana: Etna honey, preserves, oil and mountain liqueurs.
Tip: November is olio nuovo season: the freshly pressed Etna olive oil is green, peppery and exists only for these few weeks. Taste it before you buy.
🚇 by car or bus from Zafferana Etnea (1.4 km)
Featured in: OpenStreetMap · Azienda Agricola Costa
Show on mapEnoteca Ostinati · Giarre
A wine shop in Giarre, on Etna's eastern flank: Nerello Mascalese from the contrade up above and small producers from the volcano.
Tip: Order an Etna Rosso and ask which contrada it comes from: on the volcano, as in Burgundy, the side of the mountain changes everything.
🚇 regional train to Giarre-Riposto + 10-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap
Show on mapEnoteca Florio · Catania
A neighbourhood wine shop with a good Sicilian selection: the place to buy without paying historic-centre prices.
Tip: Wine shops outside the old quarter charge noticeably less for the same bottle. The walk is worth it.
🚇 metro Giuffrida (FCE) + 2-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap
Show on mapEnoteca dell'Etna · Ragalna
A wine shop devoted to the volcano's wines, in Ragalna, on Etna's south-western flank and surrounded by vineyards.
Tip: It is the wine shop closest to the southern vineyards: a good place to taste several contrade before deciding which winery to drive up to.
🚇 by car or bus from Belpasso (5.7 km)
Featured in: OpenStreetMap
Show on mapLa Cantina · Historic Centre
A wine shop in the baroque centre, small and well chosen: Etna, Vittoria, Marsala and Sicilian natural producers.
Tip: It is on the pedestrian axis of the centre: if you buy bottles, ask them to wrap them for the plane, they do it all the time.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 6-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap
Show on mapCavallotto · Catania
Catania's historic bookshop, founded in 1947: Sicilian stock, art books and a local section you will not find in the chains.
Tip: Look for the section on Etna and on Verga: it is the best souvenir you can carry home and it weighs almost nothing.
🚇 metro Galatea (FCE) + 2-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap
Show on mapVicolo Stretto · Historic Centre
An independent bookshop in an alley in the centre, with book launches, coffee and the Catanese cultural scene inside.
Tip: Ask whether there is a launch that week: it is the meeting point of the Catania that writes.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 5-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap
Show on mapVulcanika · Historic Centre
Objects and jewellery made from Etna lava stone worked in Catania: the most local craft you can take home.
Tip: Decorated pietra lavica carries no official mark. Ask whether the piece was cut and glazed in Sicily and ask to see another from the same workshop: if they are all identical, it is industrial.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 10-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap · local craft
Show on mapMizzica · Historic Centre
Sicilian souvenirs with design: 'mizzica' is the Catanese exclamation of surprise and it is printed locally.
Tip: 'Mizzica!' is what you say when something surprises you. Use it once in a bar and watch the nod of approval.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 8-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap
Show on mapFolk · Historic Centre
A shop of contemporary Sicilian objects and craft: ceramics, textiles and design from the island.
Tip: It is the filter between the generic souvenir and the workshop piece: here the curating has been done for you.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 3-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap
Show on mapMarzapani · Via Etnea 20
Handmade marzipan and frutta martorana on the Duomo block: almond fruit painted by hand, piece by piece.
Tip: Frutta martorana is made for 2 November. These days are when it is freshest and comes in the widest range of shapes.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 7-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap · Sicilian tradition
Show on mapCondorelli · Catania
The shop of the Catanese torrone and coffee brand: the whole almond and pistachio repertoire in takeaway format.
Tip: The individually wrapped torroncino is the most practical gift from Sicily: light, cheap and it does not break in your suitcase.
🚇 metro Giuffrida (FCE) + 9-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap
Show on mapMercato di Misterbianco · Misterbianco
Misterbianco's weekly street market: clothes, homeware, fruit and the Sicily that shops rather than the one that visits.
Tip: The province's weekly markets run in the morning and wrap up around 13:00: they are not an afternoon plan.
🚇 398 m from Misterbianco, 5-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap
Show on mapMercato di Mascalucia · Mascalucia
Thursday's weekly market in Mascalucia, one of the Etna villages in the first belt.
Tip: Open Thursdays from 7:00 to 15:00. It is the Etna belt's market: mountain fruit, nuts and garden produce.
🚇 324 m from Mascalucia, 4-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap
Show on mapMercato di Belpasso · Belpasso
Friday's market in Belpasso, the village rebuilt three times after Etna's eruptions.
Tip: Open Fridays from 8:00 to 13:00. Belpasso moved three times because of the lava: the town standing today is the third foundation.
🚇 by car or bus from Belpasso (1.2 km)
Featured in: OpenStreetMap
Show on mapCatania FC Store · Catania
The official Catania shop: the red-and-blue shirt, scarves and the elephant iconography in football form.
Tip: The club was refounded after going bankrupt and today it is called Catania FC. The red-and-blue shirt with the elephant is the neighbourhood souvenir par excellence.
🚇 metro Stesicoro (FCE) + 7-min walk
Featured in: OpenStreetMap · Catania FC
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