or Catania, a city of Sicily, seated on a gulph of the same name, near the foot of Mount Etna or Gibel. It was founded by the Chalcidians soon after the settlement of Syracuse, and enjoyed great tranquillity till Hiero I. expelled the whole body of citizens; and after replenishing the town with a new flock of inhabitants, gave it the name of Etna: immediately after his decease, it regained its ancient name, and its citizens returned to their abodes. Catania fell into the hands of the Romans, among their earliest acquisitions in Sicily, and became the residence of a praetor. To make it worthy of such an honour, it was adorned with sumptuous buildings of all kinds, and every convenience was procured to supply the natural and artificial wants of life. It was destroyed by Pompey's son, but restored with superior magnificence by Augustus. The reign of Decius is famous in the history of this city for the martyrdom of its patroness St Agatha. On every emergency her intercession is implored. She is piously believed to have preserved Catania from being overwhelmed by torrents of lava, or shaken to pieces by earthquakes; yet its ancient edifices are covered by repeated fires of volcanic matter; and almost every house, even her own church, has been thrown to the ground. In the reign of William the Good, 20,000 Cataniens, with their pastor at their head, were destroyed before the sacred veil could be properly placed to check the flames. In the last century the eruptions and earthquakes raged with redoubled violence, and Catania was twice demolished.

See Etna.

The present prince of Biscari has been at infinite pains, and spent a large sum of money, in working down to the ancient town, which on account of the numerous torrents of lava that have flowed out of Mount Etna for these last thousand years, is now to be sought for in dark caverns many feet below the present surface of the earth. Mr Swinburne informs us that he defended into baths, sepulchres, an amphitheatre, and a theatre, all very much injured by the various catastrophes that have befallen them. They were erected upon old beds of lava, and even built with square pieces of the same substance, which in no instance appears to have been fused by the contact of new lavas: The sciarra or stones of cold lava, have constantly proved as strong a barrier against the flowing torrent of fire as any other stone could have been, though some authors were of opinion that the hot matter would melt the old mass and incorporate with it.

This city has been frequently defended from the burning streams by the solid mass of its own ramparts, and by the air compressed between them and the lava; as appears by the torrent having swept within a small distance of the walls, and taken another direction. But when the walls were broken or low, the lava collected itself till it rose to a great height, and then poured over in a curve. A similar instance is seen at the Torre del Greco near Naples, where the stream of liquid fire from Vesuvius divided itself into two branches, and left a church untouched in the middle. There is a well at the foot of the old walls of Catania, where the lava, after running along the parapet, and then falling falling forwards, has produced a very complete lofty arch over the spring.

The church here is a noble fabric. It is accounted the largest in Sicily, though neither a porch nor cupola has been erected, from a doubt of the solidity of the foundations, which are no other than the bed of lava that ran out of Etna in 1669, and is supposed to be full of cavities. The organ is much esteemed by connoisseurs in musical instruments.

Catania, according to Mr Swinburne's account, is reviving with great splendor. "It has already (he says) much more the features of a metropolis and royal residence than Palermo; the principal streets are wide, straight, and well paved with lava. An obelisk of red granite, placed on the back of an antique elephant of touchstone stands in the centre of the great square, which is formed by the town-hall, seminary, and cathedral. The cathedral erected by the abbot Angerius in the year 1094, was endowed by Earl Roger with the territories of Catania and Etna, for the small acknowledgment of a glass of wine and a loaf of bread offered once a-year. It has suffered so much by earthquakes, that little of the original structure remains, and the modern parts have hardly any thing except their materials to recommend them. The other religious edifices of the city are profusely ornamented, but in a bad taste. The spirit of building seems to have seized upon this people, and the prince of Biscari's example adds fresh vigour. It were natural to suppose men would be backward in erecting new habitations, especially with any degree of luxury, on ground so often shaken to its centre, and so often buried under the ashes of a volcano; but such is their attachment to their native soil, and their contempt of dangers they are habituated to, that they rebuild their houses on the warm cinders of Vesuvius, the quaking plains of Calabria, and the black mountains of Sciarrn at Catania; it is however surprising to see such embellishments lavished in so dangerous a situation. There is a great deal of activity in the disposition of this people: they know by tradition that their ancestors carried on a flourishing commerce; and that, before the river filled it up, they had a spacious convenient harbour, where they now have scarce a creek for a felucca: they therefore wish to refer those advantages to Catania, and have often applied to government for assistance towards forming a mole and port, an undertaking their strength alone is unequal to; but whether the refusal originates in the deficiencies of the public treasury or the jealousy of other cities, all their projects have ended in fruitless applications. The number of inhabitants dwelling in Catania amounts to 30,000; the Cataniacs make it double: A considerable portion of this number appertains to the university, the only one in the island, and the nurseries of all the lawyers." E. Long. 15. 19. N. Lat. 37. 20.