If you find yourself in Catania, especially by cruise, this piazza is very likely one of the first…read moreplaces that you may see. From the cruise port, you can either walk here in about 20 minutes or take the round trip shuttle to a nearby bus stop. It is a beautiful and quaint piazza. In the middle of the piazza is a statue of the elephant for which the piazza is known by. Here you will also be able to get a great view and pictures of the Cathedral of Saint Agatha. Most of the shopping, sites and dining are readily accessible from here. From here there is also a great view of Mt. Etna on one roadway and a great view of Porto Girabaldi.

With a charming sculpture of a cute little elephant (Fontana dell'Elefante) made of volcanic rock…read morein 1736 by Giovanni Battista Vaccarini, what's not to love about this lovely baroque piazza? It's hard to miss since a giant obelisk comes rising out of his back with a globe on top. A symbol you will find in tiny scultptures in all the gift shops! Bustling at all hours of day this is the heart of the city. If you sit on edge of the fountain you can enjoy the surrounding architecture like the Palazzo del Municipio (Town Hall), the former Chierici Seminary, the Cathedral and Porta Uzeda the city gate built in 1696 according to my Sicilian guide book. Plenty of gelaterias and Italian "bars" to rest your feet, which means they serve coffee, drinks, gelato, pastries, etc. Not a U.S. "bar". A great photo op and a start to a wonderful walk in a fasninating ancient city. Bring your camera and comfy shoes.

Amazing tours set up for you here!…read more Since we have two small kids finding the right tour was tricky. We had been out venturing on our own to many of the sites but knew we were missing a lot by not having a tour guide tell us about the history behind every place we saw. We finally set up a tour on an antique train ride with a stop in Randazzo. We met very early and a van drove us and a small group to the train station in Catania. The train station had a little coffee shop so everyone got a chance to grab a quick coffee prior to boarding. The train ride was scenic, we stopped in Randazzo a few hours later and walked to see a few interesting sites. Tour guide was very informative and helpful. We stopped off at another coffee shop in Randazzo then walked to see several historic piazzas and churches. The village is full of interesting facts dating back to the middle ages. Much of the town was detroyed in WWII but there a few places that survived. Cobblestone winding streets take you back to capture a time where Knights of the Templar supposedly were, vikings, witch trials, kings, monastaries and prisons were all part of everyday life going back centuries. All fascinating! Our final stop was at a deli where we were treated to trays of local meats, cheeses, olives and wine and of course chocolate and cookies. We ordered some panini's which is a simple sandwich made with a baguette cheese, salami and olive oil. We bought everything we sampled and took back a few bottles of wine. My phone ran out of battery so I was not able to capture this portion of the tour:( This was a nice tour, it did take all day, but kids got to take a nap on the way back. Restrooms in Italy are an adventure so for ladies I recommend taking a backpack (if you're out touring the sites) with your own roll of toilet paper! Take some euro and change because many public restrooms charge anywhere from 50 cents to 1 euro (that was not the case on this tour) A bottle of water is always a good idea too! Many of the tours last all day and a few are just a night out for dinner in Catania. Wine tours Train Rides Snowboarding trips (equipment also available to rent) Hiking Opera City tours Agriculture tours (with harvesting and lunch) Palermo tours (including a Godfather Tour which takes you to famous sites where the film was shot) St. Agatha Festival (one of the largest in the world) Museums Pizza on Mt. Etna Tandem Sky Diving Come here first to get your calendar of events. www.sigmwr.com

Is it a nice park? Yes. However, what makes it worth the slight detour is the great views of Mount…read moreEtna. Nice setting with great view.

One of the nicest places in all of Sicily. Truly a delight and wonder.read more

Came here on a hot sunny summer day and was impressed with the whole thing! Took a taxi to get…read morethere as I was not familiar with the area and you would not have guessed that there is a waterpark in the middle of nothing! We paid 22 Euro's to get in and it was well worth those 22 Euro's. So many choices of what to do when you are inside. From riding the many water slides to just lounging on a beach chair. Spent most of the time relaxing in the beach chairs (4 Euro's to have the entire day) near the wave pool and then running into the pool when the horns rang because that means the waves were coming. I recommend not to go to the deep part of the pool when the waves start coming unless you know how to swim because I've seen the lifeguards pull out 4 to 5 people every hour because they were drowning. Great times!! especially during the summer time when it felt like there was thousands of people there. Even with so many people there , the long lines moved very fast and it will be your turn to drop down into the slides in no time. The slides I rode were all awesome!! The speeds of them were faster than what I thought it would be and was an excellent thrill!! Thinking about it makes me want to go there again!

Ok so this might be a secret spot and I'm sorry if I'm making it public. But this is my favorite…read moreLido. It's so quiet, filled with an older demographic during the day. Parking is easy on the street out front. I like to arrive early to get a spot at an umbrella. Once I'm set up I walk down the stairs and take a dip in the sea. So beautiful. Then a quick rinse at the showers and I lay under my umbrella for hours. If I could live here I would :-)

This square plaza is the university with each building has a different department. This one our…read moreViking Ocean cruise tour guide took us to had a nice pretty courtyard inside and a small unique Musuem of interesting artifacts some I shared here. Well worth a visit when you are in Catania and walking on the Main Street Via Etnea. If it wasn't for my tour, this city would never hit my radar. Always good to take a tour and discover new places like this university!

We were only in Catania for a couple of days but we loved it! we stayed in the center about a 5…read moreminute walk from this piazza and when we were walking through the piazza we found an unexpected concert! the nightlife here was great as everyone came out to the concert and the city was alive late into the night