Catania Walking Tour with Audio and Written Guide by a Local
Description
If you're looking for a fun and curious way to visit Catania, you've come to the right place! With this digital guide created with the support of a local, you will be able to visit all the most important monuments at your own pace. You'll get to know the stories and curiosities of Catania! But also you will discover everything about local foods, Italian Aperitivo in authentic local restaurants, and much more!
Tour Options
Itinerary
Ursino Castle, whose name is still uncertain, is located in the center of a large square named after the Holy Roman Emperor and King of Sicily, Frederick II of Swabia. Initially, the building stood very close to the sea, surrounded by a moat and protected by several defensive structures. The external wall was built with well-squared and regularly arranged lava stone ashlars, while the second, more internal, wall was much more irregular.
The “Pescheria” of Catania is the famous fish market of the city, located in the heart of the historic center, near Piazza del Duomo and the Fontana dell’Amenano. It is commonly called by the people of Catania “Piscarìa”, a term that comes from the Sicilian dialect.
Fontana dell’Amenano was created in 1867 by the Neapolitan sculptor Tito Angelini in Carrara marble. This fountain is dedicated to the Amenano, the underground river that flows under the city of Etna.
Piazza del Duomo is the beating heart of Catania, located in the historic center of the city. This charming square is home to some of the city’s most iconic monuments, including the majestic Cathedral of Sant’Agata, dedicated to the city’s patron saint.
Catania Cathedral, officially known as the Cathedral of Sant’Agata, is an important example of Baroque architecture. Built in 1090 on the remains of an ancient Roman temple dedicated to Jupiter, the cathedral was later rebuilt after the earthquake of 1693, which destroyed much of the city.
Piazza Università takes its name from the Palazzo degli Studi, also known as Palazzo Università. One of the distinctive elements of this square are the four bronze lampposts placed at its corners, which represent figures from popular Catania legends: the young Gammazita, the sailor Cola Pesce with his underwater skills, the brothers Anfinomo and Anapia, and the legendary Catania paladin Uzeta.
Beneath Piazza Stesicoro lies an ancient Roman theatre, dating back to the 1st century BC. This precious archaeological site has been submerged over the centuries by several eruptions of Etna and, as you might imagine, seismic events. We are not going to enter but you can visit it by yourself if you want!
Crociferi Street is one of the oldest and most evocative streets in Catania, located in the heart of the historic center. This road, renowned for its extraordinary beauty, is often chosen as a set for films, thanks to its cinematic charm.
The Benedictine Monastery of San Nicolò l’Arena in Catania has been a fundamental point of reference in the history of the city, especially in the eighteenth century, thanks to its grandeur, the richness of its rooms and the noble origins of the monks who lived there.
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Wheelchair accessible
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Service animals allowed
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- You will need a smartphone with internet connection to use the digital guide (details to activate the digital guide will be in your voucher, read it carefully!)
- You'll be able to hear the audio through your speakers or, if you have them, through your headphones
Reviews(41)
Well-made guide, it pleasantly accompanies you in discovering Catania. So many interesting explanations!
Totally enjoyed my self guided walking tour. It was so easy to open the tour and follow the prompts. Information was provided for each point of interest in both written and audio form and was always interesting. I was given the option to use the tour over several days. And, I took advantage of that spreading it over 2 days so I could take my time and make little gelato stops along the way.
It was new and excelent experience
Went fine, good experience to be helped through the city's sights. Otherwise we weren't that far around.
I really enjoyed my walking tour of Catania. The app is easy to use. I liked that I could both listen and read because I lost internet access a couple of times. I am impressed with the number of interesting sites covered, and the detail. I did not have a lot of time to spend in Catania so the flexibility of a self guided tour was great.
We were skeptical at first about how this would work, but were thrilled at the end. It all worked out great from the start. Clear and understandable explanations of the respective objects were given. Then one was directed to Google Maps via a button, which then led me to a suggested route to the next landmark. But I found the best and special banger: you could also interrupt this path and go to dinner, or take another road, you were always included in the program and led to the sight. I would also like to point out that you could have the explanations read out as often as you wanted if you had not understood something correctly. For this you just had to push the player back and so you could hear it again. Personally, I found that much better than the guided tour with a guide in person. So all in all I found it a successful app and can only highly recommend this type of viewing. But I still have a small improvement suggestion: That one would give recommendations for the parking garages which in the middle or beginning or end. Then it would be the icing on the cake for me. But... and I would like to mention this, I had also given the question about the parking garages to the organizer via WhatsApp about the ticket load. For this I did not get as needed or desired immediately, but later. We had already found a parking garage ourselves. What I would like to mention, however, is that it really responded to my request. This shows me that the service is not only superficial, but also practiced. One more recommendation from me: The garage Siesicoro in VIA Gambino 25 I would recommend the parking garage is super clean and very tidy staff. You have to hand over the car key because the car is parked by the staff, but when we wanted to pick up our convertible unannounced, we saw how neatly our car was parked and it was handed over to us again. So for me also all the stars to recommend. And.... you can also experience a huge market at the same time if you go to the 2 corners.
I was unable to access the link. However, I was able to use the internery to navigate through it on my own. The link is not clickable or copy able, so I just didn't use it. It was disappointing
The routing and the content were generally good, and the link between Google maps and the tour guide worked well. The commentary seemed like each station was written entirely independently of each other leading to quite a lot of repetition. The English audio version uses an AI American voice similar to Google maps, with truly terrible pronunciation of local place names... this is lazy and inexcusable, very grating!
Ciao! I'm happy that you appreciated our content! We just updated our audio quality so now is going to be even better than before! I hope that this review will help other travellers!
Really enjoyed this walking tour and being able to do it at my own pace and the added extras were a bonus. It was definitely worth the money. Brilliant value.
The app was easy to use and gave a lot of great information.
