February 19, 2026

Gela > Catania, Sicilia, Italia

Not really a travel day, although we are changing cities. We are going to Catania so we can do a “Godfather Movie locations Tour” tomorrow. Saturday we’ll return to Gela. The morning was spent relaxing, working on the blog, talking to V, planning his and Ali’s trip to Venice. I did go and get cappuccino and brioche, and I did bring one of each back to Mary. We packed and got ready for our 12-noon pickup.

We went downstairs and stood in the doorway to the street just before it had gone 12. A few minutes later a guy comes walking up the street asking if I am Harry. This turns out to be our driver. We walked down the street to the the next intersection where he was able to pull into a driveway. We loaded into the very nice Mercedes van and were off to Catania. He didn’t speak any English. He didn’t like my Italian. And I don’t know any French. So, we had a nice quite ride back to Catania long the same route we took from the airport.

When we arrived in Catania he dropped us off about two blocks from our B&B because the area is “Pedonale” – pedestrian only. It is and it isn’t. There seemed to be a lot of cars for a pedestrian only area. It was only 13:30 and the check-in time is 15:00. Despite all the messages I send I hadn’t gotten a response. I was asking if we could drop our bags, or perhaps check-in early.

We found what we thought was the entrance, but there was no indication of what to do. So we went to the near by trattoria – pizzeria Romantica which was just a few doors down from where we thought we should go. We sat and had lunch/dinner. We shared an order of fried calamari, Mary had spaghetti Bolognese, I chose the colette of chicken and fries. We stayed there until 15:00.

Well, it turns out the B&B, Charme Catania Central Suites, 5 Via Collegiata, is above the restaurant next door, Mood Dika (a bottega di cucina) to the trattoria we ate at. In fact, the entrance to Charme is in the middle of the outdoor seating and the personnel from the restaurant actually are the hosts. Breakfast, in fact, is in the restaurant.

Again, I am not sure why by travel days are tiring. We got into the room, which is really nice. It is a rectangle maybe 10 meets by 6 meters. The door opens on to a sitting room with a small table, too small for cards, a couch, and a couple of chairs. Then there is a coat rack, followed by a narrow passageway which had a coffee/tea setup on the right with the bathroom on the left. It ends opening up into a bedroom with a freestanding bathtub. There is one floor to ceiling window at the very end.

Some of the walls are exposed rough brick/stone structures. Some are finished with plaster. The floor is finished concrete. It is charming, therefore well named. The first order of business was a nap.

At 17:00 we got up and went out for a walk. We walked down Via Etnea to the Piazza Università. It is a beautiful piazza flanked by several grand 18th-century palazzo(s). Two of which house the University of Catania. The piazza itself was rebuilt after an earthquake in 1693 and is a masterpiece of urban design. On the western side is the Palazzo dell’Università. This is the seat of the University Rectorate. It features a magnificent internal courtyard designed by Giovanni Battista Vaccarini with distinctive bland-and-white pebble mosaics.

On the eastern side, directly opposite the Palazzo dell-Università is the Palazzo San Giuliano. It was built for the Paternò family in 1738. Today it houses the university administrative offices.  The northern side houses the Palazzo Gioeni which added to the piazza’s architectural symmetry. The southern side is actually the rear side of the Palazzo degli Elefanti which houses the current City Hall. The main entrance of which is on the Piazza Duomo. The southern side also houses the Palazzo Cilestri which dates back to the last half of the 18th century.

This noble piazza is paved entirely in lava stone. There are four elaborate bronze lampposts which depict four legendary figures from Catalina folklore.

1.             Gammazita: A virtuous young woman who threw herself into a well.

2.             Colapesce: The legendary boy who holds up one of the pillars of Sicily.

3.             The Pii Brothers (Anfinomo and Anapia): Who saved their elderly parents during an eruption.

4.             Uzeta: A legendary paladin who defeated the Saracens.

The Paladin Uzeta is a legendary heroic knight from Catania, Sicily. Unlike ancient mythological figures, he is a fictional character created in the early 1900s by journalist Giuseppe Malfa and the famous puppeteer Don Raffaele Trombetta. He was invented to provide the city of Catania with its own "local" paladin for the traditional Opera dei Pupi (Puppet Theater). Marketing?

Uzeta is depicted as a young man of humble origins—specifically the son of a poor weaver—who rose to knighthood through sheer courage and prowess. His most famous legend involves: 

·                Defeating the Ursini Giants: According to the story, Saracen giants known as the "Ursini" had occupied the Ursino Castle. Uzeta defeated them, freeing the fortress for King Frederick II of Swabia.

·                Winning the Princess: In reward for his bravery, the King granted Uzeta the hand of his daughter, Princess Galatea.

·                Global Hero: Beyond Sicily, puppet shows often depicted him saving Rome from Berbers, Vienna from Tartars, and earning titles such as the Prince of Simeto.

I just liked that there is nothing in any of this except marketing. The palazzos were marketing. Showing the people the power of the king of Italy. These were all built about the time of the Italian unification.

There was a profound transformation in the 19th century, moving from Bourbon (Spanish) rule to the end of feudalism, and finally to its annexation to the Kingdom of Italy. The first half of the 19th-century was characterized by strong independence movements and revolts (1820, 1848). This concluded with Garibaldi's Expedition of the Thousand in 1860 and mass emigration, despite an initial cultural revival.

The British occupied Sicily from 1806 to 1814. During which time a constitution was written and feudalism was abolished. So, until 1816, Sicily was formally a separate kingdom, albeit under the wing of the Bourbons of Naples. Then in 1816, Ferdinand I abolished the Kingdom of Sicily, unifying it with Naples and creating the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, an event that sparked repressed rebellions.

"King Bomba" (Re Bomba) is the nickname given to King Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies, stemming from his brutal suppression of the 1848 Sicilian revolution. The revolution began in Palermo on January 12, 1848—deliberately chosen to coincide with the King’s birthday—as part of the broader European revolutions of 1848. It was the first of many revolutions in Europe that year, targeting the oppressive rule of the Bourbon dynasty.

Following the uprising, Sicilians expelled Bourbon troops from most of the island and established an independent state (the Kingdom of Sicily) that lasted for 16 months, with a liberal constitution and Ruggero Settimo as head of state. In response to the independence movement, Ferdinand II sent a large army and naval fleet to reclaim the island. In September 1848, the city of Messina was bombarded for eight hours with "savage barbarity," even after its defenders had surrendered. This act, which reduced parts of the city to rubble, earned him the nickname Re Bomba.

After a campaign lasting nine months, the Bourbon army, led by General Carlo Filangieri, fully regained control of Sicily, with the final submission of the revolutionary government on May 15, 1849. The violent suppression and subsequent rigid control by the Bourbon government created a deep, lasting resentment in Sicily.The Gancia revolt in 1860 paved the way for the landing of Garibaldi's Thousand, followed by the plebiscite for annexation to the Kingdom of Italy on October 21, 1860.

The 19th century in Sicily was also a period of intellectual fervor, with the birth of important literary and philosophical movements, which saw the participation of enlightened writers and nobles in the context of the Risorgimento. However, the end of the century was marked by great economic hardship, social tensions, and the beginning of massive emigration to the Americas.

The 20th century wasn’t any better for Sicily. It was still defined by extreme hardship, mass emigration, and significant political shifts. The century began with the devastating 1908 Messina earthquake, which killed 80,000 people. Economic stagnation and the entrenched power of the aristocracy and mafia led to mass emigration, with over 500,000 Sicilians moving to Australia and America. In the 1920s and 1930s, Mussolini attempted to eliminate the Sicilian Mafia, while using the island as a agricultural "breadbasket" for his regime. In July 1943, Allied forces (headed by General Patton and Montgomery) landed in Sicily, marking the first part of Italy to be freed. The Allies, in some instances, initially relied on local mafia figures to regain control, allowing the criminal network to resurface. In 1946, Sicily was granted special status as an autonomous region with its own parliament, partly to appease a strong separatist movement.

Post-war, the island experienced a shift away from agriculture, resulting in massive, often unregulated urban expansion in cities like Palermo. Despite industrialization efforts, the region continued to struggle with high unemployment and the enduring influence of the Cosa Nostra. The region did not lose its autonomy post-war, but the, independent movement’s political influence, such as the Movimento per l'Indipendenza della Sicilia, diminished, and it never became an independent state. The latter half of the century was marked by internal conflicts, such as the Mafia war of the early 1960s, leading to intense state crackdowns and the temporary disbanding of the Sicilian Mafia Commission.

The 21st-Century Sicily is still undergoing change and suffering. Palermo was named the Italian Capital of Culture in 2018 and hosted Manifesta 12, marking a resurgence in its art scene. UNESCO recognition was given to Arab-Norman Palermo, Cefalù, and Monreale. Tourism is booming, with highlights including Taormina and the Aeolian Islands. However, the island has faced challenges with water scarcity in 2024, leading to limitations on tourist consumption in some areas.

Sicily serves as a primary point of entry for migrants from Africa and the Middle East, altering its social and demographic landscape. There has been a stronger, public anti-mafia movement, with businesses in Palermo actively refusing to pay extortion money and displaying "Addiopizzo" stickers. Unfortunately, there are still infrastructure and environmental issues, such as the 2021 Ravanusa explosion, the 2004 Canneto di Caronia fires and Mt. Etna entering a new phase of activity which began on January 1 of this year.

Just some background on Sicilia. We continued walking and walked down to the Piazza del Duomo. The 18th-century Baroque Basilica Cattedrale di Sant’Agata. The cathedral has been destroyed and rebuilt several times because of earthquakes and eruptions of the nearby Mount Etna. It was originally constructed in 1078–1093, on the ruins of the ancient Roman Achillean Baths, by order of Roger I of Sicily, who had conquered the city from the Islamic emirate of Sicily. At the time it had the appearance of a fortified church (ecclesia munita).

In 1169 it was almost entirely destroyed by an earthquake, leaving only the apse area intact. Further damage was caused by a fire in 1169, but the most catastrophic event was the 1693 earthquake, which again left it mostly in ruins. Today, traces of the original Norman edifice include part of the transept, the two towers and the three semicircular apses, composed of large lava stones, most of them recovered from imperial Roman buildings. Despite all the damage and rebuilding the current structure is quite impressive.

On one side of the piazza is the Amenano Fountain (Fontana dell’Amenano), opposite the Palazzo degli Elefanti and next to the Palazzo del Seminario dei Chierici. The fountain, was sculpted in 1867 by the Neapolitan master Tito Angelini from Carrara marble, depicts the Amenano River as a young man holding a cornucopia from which water pours into a curved-edged basin. The water, overflowing from this basin, creates a cascade effect that resembles a sheet. Hence the Sicilian expression "acqua a linzolu" (literally, "water in a sheet"). The water falling from the basin flows into the ancient river below, which flows at a level about two meters below the square.

Behind the fountain, there is a lava stone staircase leads to the ancient city fish market. We follow the stairs down and walk along one side of the market and up a hill towards the shiny lights of various restaurants and stores. We walked around the side streets to the west of the Piazza del Duomo and Piazza dell’Università. We ended up is Piazza San Francesco d'Assisi.

The most predominate thing in the piazza is a monument to the Blessed Giuseppe Dusmet a man devoted to charity. The statue is located in the center of the piazza San Francesco d’Assisi between the church of San Francesco and the Palazzo Gravina-Cruyllas which is now the Museo Belliniano. We followed the shiny lights and ended up at a restaurant called Deliziosa.

Although it was technically too early for dinner it was a good time for an aperitivo, besides we had a big lunch. We sat at an outside table. We ordered two glasses of wine and a taglieri of salami and cheese. We got a very nice board with a good selection of cold meats and Sicilian cheese. There were walnuts, arugula, honey and jam. The wines were a Mt. Enta Rosso and Tenuta Valle delle Ferle Nero D’Avola. Both were excellent.

We enjoyed our wine and taglieri and relaxed. Afterwards we walked back to the B&B. The room is nice but I couldn’t get the fan to work. It was a little hot in the room so I opened the window. Which was ok, but we are just off of the Piazza dell’Università which is nosey. We are also just above a restaurant.

The room cooled down and sometime after I went to sleep, Mary closed the window.

Buonanotte e ciao,

Enrico e Maria