Catania and AciTrezza bike tour

Cycling tour along the major streets of the old town, destroyed and rebuilt nine times in the same place. This unusual feature makes Catania a city with a thousand faces. A casket with treasures dating back to different historical periods, buried and then brought to light...keeper of many secrets yet to be revealed!

We will move out from the old town along coastal roads, until we arrive at Aci Castello. The name comes from the building symbol of the village, a castle built on a lava basalt rock, originated from an underwater eruption that occurred about 500,000 years ago. The castle, the object of many legends, is now used as a Civic Museum.

We will then reach AciTrezza, a fishing village that is the background of the Isola Lachea and the Faraglioni dei Ciclopi. These lava rocks were born from the same underwater eruption from which the cliff of Aci Castello originated. Greek mythology tells that the Faraglioni were the rocks thrown by Polyphemus (the Cyclop) against Ulysse (the opera's hero) after being blinded, in the masterpiece "Odyssey". In recent times, were the setting for Verga’s novel "I Malavoglia".
After this plunge into history, we will make a stop for a swim or refresh ourselves with a granita (a local lighter alternative to the icecream).

After the bike's setting, we will go toward Piazza Duomo to admire Syracuse's Cathedral. Our second stop will be the Aretusa fountain and then the Maniace Castle.

After leaving the massive castle of the Federician era we will go alongside the eastern promenade to see the ancient walls of the Spanish era.

Then we will leave the Aretusean Isle through the Umbertinian Bridge and we will reach, almost completely on the bike path, the old Tonnara of Saint Panagia, an old site of tuna fishing and processing active until 1970. During the tour, we will make a short stop at the Basilica of Santa Lucia to see, for those who wish, the "Burial of Saint Lucia", a famous painting made by Caravaggio.

After that, returning to the starting point, we will make a short stop to see the Artemide fountain in Piazza Archimede, ending the tour in Ortigia's market.