The Cathedral of Catania, entitled to St. Agatha, is a church in Catania

Catania

Catania is an Italian city on the east coast of Sicily facing the Ionian Sea, between Messina and Syracuse. It is the capital of the homonymous province, and with 298,957 inhabitants it is the second-largest city in Sicily and the tenth in Italy.Catania is known to have a seismic history and...

, Sicily

Sicily

Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...

, southern Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

.

History

The church has been destroyed and rebuilt several times due earthquakes and eruptions of the nearby volcano Etna. It was originally constructed in 1078-1093, on the ruins of the ancient Roman Achillean Baths, by order of Roger I of Sicily

Roger I of Sicily

Roger I , called Bosso and the Great Count, was the Norman Count of Sicily from 1071 to 1101. He was the last great leader of the Norman conquest of southern Italy.-Conquest of Calabria and Sicily:...

, who had conquered the city from the Islamic emirate of Sicily

Emirate of Sicily

The Emirate of Sicily was an Islamic state on the island of Sicily , which existed from 965 to 1072.-First Arab invasions of Sicily:...

. At the time it had the appearance of a fortified church (ecclesia munita).

In 1169 it was nearly entirely destroyed by an earthquake, leaving only the apse area intact. Further damage was introduced by a fire in 1169, but the most catastrophic event was the 1693 earthquake

1693 Sicily earthquake

The 1693 Sicily earthquake refers to a powerful earthquake that struck parts of southern Italy, notably Sicily, Calabria and Malta on January 11, 1693 around 9 pm local time. This earthquake was preceded by a damaging foreshock on January 9th...

, which again left it mostly in ruins. It was subsequently rebuilt in Baroque

Baroque architecture

Baroque architecture is a term used to describe the building style of the Baroque era, begun in late sixteenth century Italy, that took the Roman vocabulary of Renaissance architecture and used it in a new rhetorical and theatrical fashion, often to express the triumph of the Catholic Church and...

 style.

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.

Exterior

The current appearance of the church date to the 1711 century design of Gian Battista Vaccarini, who designed a new Baroque

Sicilian Baroque

Sicilian Baroque is the distinctive form of Baroque architecture that took hold on the island of Sicily, off the southern coast of Italy, in the 17th and 18th centuries...

 façade after the 1693 earthquake. It has three floors with Corinthian columns, in granite, perhaps taken from the Roman Theatre of the city. All the orders are decorated with marble statues of St. Agatha over the gate, St. Euplius on the right and St. Birillus on the left. The entrance door, in wood, has 32 sculpted plaques with episodes of the life and martyrdom of St. Agatha, coat of arms of popes and symbols of Christianity.

The dome dates to 1802. The bell tower was originally erected in 1387, with a height of some 70 meters. In 1662 a watch was added, the structure reaching 90 meters; after the 1693 destruction it was rebuilt, with the addition of a 7.5 t bell, the third largest in Italy after that in the St. Peter's Basilica

St. Peter's Basilica

The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter , officially known in Italian as ' and commonly known as Saint Peter's Basilica, is a Late Renaissance church located within the Vatican City. Saint Peter's Basilica has the largest interior of any Christian church in the world...

 and in the Duomo of Milan.

The parvise

Parvise

Parvise or parvis may refer to:#A room over the porch of a church — quite often found in Norman churches in England. In some churches these rooms were used for school rooms and in Castle Ashby was the home of a woman - who saved the manor house from burning when she saw the fire taking hold from...

 is accessed through a marble façade culminating with a wrought iron

Wrought iron

thumb|The [[Eiffel tower]] is constructed from [[puddle iron]], a form of wrought ironWrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon...

 decorated with 10 bronze statues of saints. The parvise is separated from the Cathedral's square by a balaustrade in white stone, featuring five large statues of saints in Carrara marble.

Interior

The church is on the Latin cross plan, with a nave and two aisles. In the right aisle are the baptistery and, at the first altar, a canvas of St. Febronia of Nisibis by Borremans

Borremans

Borremans is a Belgian surname and may refer to:*Charles Borremans, , Flemish/Dutch composer*Colonel Borremans, Belgian military commander*Guglielmo Borremans , Flemish painter...

 facing, on a pilaster, the tomb of composer Vincenzo Bellini

Vincenzo Bellini

Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini was an Italian opera composer. His greatest works are I Capuleti ed i Montecchi , La sonnambula , Norma , Beatrice di Tenda , and I puritani...

. Also on a pilaster between this aisles and the nave is the Baroque monument of bishop Pietro Galletti. Also notable is the Chapel of St. Agatha.

The apse dates to the original 12th century construction: it features a medieval mullioned window and a late-16th century choir by the Neapolitan artist Scipione di Guido. At the end of the left transept is the Chapel of the Holy Crucifix, by Domenico Mazzola (1577). It houses the tombs of members of the Aragonese branch of Sicily, such as Kings Frederick III

Frederick III of Sicily

Frederick II was the regent and subsequently King of Sicily from 1295 until his death. He was the third son of Peter III of Aragon and served in the War of the Sicilian Vespers on behalf of his father and brothers, Alfonso and James...

 and Louis

Louis of Sicily

Louis the Child was King of Sicily from 1342 to 1355.Born in Catania, he was the son of Peter II, whom he succeeded at the age of five, and his mother was Elisabeth of Carinthia. His reign began under the joint regency of his uncle John, Duke of Randazzo, and his mother.He lived at Randazzo...

, John of Randazzo, and Constance.

The left aisle has several 17th century paintings of saints, including one by Borremans.