The city, as well as we admire it today, has an 18th-century city plan, that is the result of its rebuilding after the disastrous 1693 earthquake. The Viceroy Uzeda commissioned the reconstruction to Giuseppe Lanza, Duke of Camastra, who rebuilt the city in the same site, by reusing parts of surviving building. It is the case of the Cathedral, whose facade was built between 1730 and 1758 by Giovanni Battista Vaccarini, the architect who also designed the layout of the Elephant Fountain, the symbol of the city.
We will start our cultural walking tour from Piazza Duomo, which is accessed by the Porta Uzeda. Here we will admire the elegant façades with black lava stone and white limestone alternating with gray plasters. We will see the trick of lights and color effects on the façade of Seminary of the Clerics and Palace of Senate. The expert-led private tour will continue in the Cathedral. We will then admire the Church of San Placido in the homonymous square, and the impressive Palace Biscari, whose façade is embellished with sculptural decorations that represent flowers, cherubs and atlases. On the way back to Via Etnea, we will admire the concave façade of the late Baroque Basilica della Collegiata. Finally, we will walk through the extraordinary Via Crociferi, a true jewel of Baroque Catania with its theory of churches, especially the Church of San Benedetto with the portal designed by Vaccarini. The 18th-century masterpiece of religious architecture is the Church of San Giuliano, with its curved façade. Finally, we will complete the tour of the city visiting the baroque Benedictine Monastery of San Nicolò, a monumental structure with the façade in large pilasters closing balconies framed by exuberant corbels with grotesque depictions.
