The Province of Catania ( it, Provincia di Catania; scn, Pruvincia di Catania) was a

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

in the autonomous island region of

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

in southern

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. Its capital was the city of

Catania Catania (, , Sicilian and ) is the second largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo. Despite its reputation as the second city of the island, Catania is the largest Sicilian conurbation, among the largest in Italy, as evidenced also by ...

. It had an area of and a total population of about 1,116,917 as of 31 December 2014. Historically known also as ''Val di Catania'',, with the administrative meaning of Province of Catania, from sqr, وَلاية, wālāya (based on ar, وَلِيّ,

wālī ''Wāli'', ''Wā'lī'' or ''vali'' (from ar, والي ''Wālī'') is an administrative title that was used in the Muslim World (including the Caliphate and Ottoman Empire) to designate governors of administrative divisions. It is still in us ...

), but also used with the geographical meaning of Catania Valley, from la, vallis. it included until 1927 a large part of the Province of Enna. It was replaced by the

Metropolitan City of Catania The Metropolitan City of Catania ( it, Città metropolitana di Catania) is a Metropolitan cities of Italy, metropolitan city in Sicily, southern Italy. Its capital is the city of Catania. It replaced the Province of Catania and comprises the city o ...

starting from 4 August 2015.

History

The Province of Catania was founded by Greeks, in 729 B.C. It was conquered by the Roman, in the

First Punic War The First Punic War (264–241 BC) was the first of three wars fought between Rome and Carthage, the two main powers of the western Mediterranean in the early 3rd century BC. For 23 years, in the longest continuous conflict and grea ...

, in 263 BC. It had experienced many volcanic eruptions from the

Mount Etna Mount Etna, or simply Etna ( it, Etna or ; scn, Muncibbeḍḍu or ; la, Aetna; grc, Αἴτνα and ), is an active stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily, Italy, in the Metropolitan City of Catania, between the cities of Messina a ...

, of which the first eruption was recorded in 475 BC. It was hit by a devastating earthquake in

1169 Year 1169 ( MCLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Late Summer – Emperor Manuel I (Komnenos) sends an embassy to Egypt to ...

, which caused an estimated death toll of about 15,000 people in the city of

alone. In 1669, it was also affected by the

1669 Etna eruption Events January–March * January 2 – Pirate Henry Morgan of Wales holds a meeting of his captains on board his ship, the former Royal Navy frigate ''Oxford'', and an explosion in the ship's gunpowder supply kills 200 of his crew an ...

. It was hit by another earthquake in

1693 Events January–March * January 11 – 1693 Sicily earthquake: Mount Etna erupts, causing a devastating earthquake that affects parts of Sicily and Malta. * January 22 – A total lunar eclipse is visible across North and South Ameri ...

, which resulted in the death of about 12,000 people (63% population at the time).

Geography

The province of Catania was one of nine provinces in the island of

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

which is the largest island in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

. It met the

Ionian Sea The Ionian Sea ( el, Ιόνιο Πέλαγος, ''Iónio Pélagos'' ; it, Mar Ionio ; al, Deti Jon ) is an elongated bay of the Mediterranean Sea. It is connected to the Adriatic Sea to the north, and is bounded by Southern Italy, including C ...

at the north-east. The

Province of Caltanissetta The Province of Caltanissetta ( it, provincia di Caltanissetta; scn, pruvincia di Nissa or ; officially ''Libero consorzio comunale di Caltanissetta'') is a province in the southern part of Sicily, Italy. Following the suppression of the Sicilia ...

and the Province of Enna lay to the west, the

Province of Ragusa The Province of Ragusa ( it, Provincia di Ragusa; Sicilian: ''Pruvincia 'i Rausa'') was a province in the autonomous region of Sicily in southern Italy, located in the south-east of the island. Following the abolition of the Sicilian provinces, ...

and the

Province of Siracusa The Province of Syracuse ( it, provincia di Siracusa; scn, pruvincia di Sarausa) was a province in the autonomous island region of Sicily in Italy. Its capital was the city of Syracuse, a town established by Greek colonists arriving from Corinth ...

lay to the south, and the

Province of Messina Messina (, ) was a province in the autonomous island region of Sicily in Italy. Its capital was the city of Messina. It was replaced by the Metropolitan City of Messina. Geography Territory It had an area of , which amounts to 12.6 percent o ...

lay to the north. It also had the largest active volcano of Europe, Mount Etna. The provincial capital and largest commune was the city of Catania.

Subdivisions

There were 58

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

s (Italian: ''comuni'') in the provinc

see

Comunes of the Province of Catania The following is a list of the 58 municipalities (''comuni'') of the Metropolitan City of Catania, Sicily, Italy. List See also *List of municipalities of Italy References {{Metropolitan City of Catania Catania Catania (, , Sicilia ...

Notes and references

Notes

References

{{Authority control