The Roman Theatre of Catania, Catania, Italy

The Roman Theatre of Catania was built in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD to the remains of earlier Greek theatre. It had seats for 7000 visitors.

User Reviews

Florian Forster (2 months ago)
Sadly practically all interesting elements are not accessible for no real reason so you're left with visiting just another amphitheatre for the 213th time but for 6€ entry fee. You get a cool view of the church and the theatre embedded in the buildings though

Maciej & Elena Gurgul (4 months ago)
If you are going to Catania even for one day I totally suggest to pay a visit to this Teatro. It’s only 6 euros (kids go free) and it’s a magical place which takes you back in time. It’s merged within the modern city, easy to find and you do not need to pre book tickets. You can visit it in less than an hour and it’s a nice break from the hustle of the city.

ΔΗΜΗΤΡΑ ΑΠΟΣΤΟΛΟΠΟΥΛΟΥ (4 months ago)
Beautiful experience but I think that 6€ is a bit too much. It literally took as 15 minutes to see everything and the place at some points has trash. Also, lots of parts were not accessible. Overall it was very beautiful, though.

Eduard Moraru (4 months ago)
It looks and feels legitimately ancient. Worth the 6 euro entrance fee. Considerable work seems to have been put into restoring some pieces so that you get the full picture. Some interior parts were temporarily not accessible to the public. Not a lot of information is available on location about what you are looking at.

Ozzy E. (9 months ago)
Impressive little piece of old history. Much more visible and preserved than other theater, as well as well immersed in the surrounding buildings. The volcanic rock as building materials creates very eerie vibe.

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Saint-Eustache

The Church of St Eustace was built between 1532-1632. St Eustace"s is considered a masterpiece of late Gothic architecture. The church’s reputation was strong enough of the time for it to be chosen as the location for a young Louis XIV to receive communion. Mozart also chose the sanctuary as the location for his mother’s funeral. Among those baptised here as children were Richelieu, Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, future Madame de Pompadour and Molière, who was also married here in the 17th century. The last rites for Anne of Austria, Turenne and Mirabeau were pronounced within its walls. Marie de Gournay is buried there.

The origins of Saint Eustache date back to 13th century. The church became a parish church in 1223, thanks to a man named Jean Alais who achieved this by taxing the baskets of fish sold nearby, as granted by King Philip Augustus. To thank such divine generosity, Alais constructed a chapel dedicated to Sainte-Agnès, a Roman martyr. The construction of the current church began in 1532, the work not being finally completed until 1637. The name of the church refers to Saint Eustace, a Roman general of the second century AD who was burned, along with his family, for converting to Christianity, and it is believed that it was the transfer of a relic of Saint Eustache from the Abbey to Saint-Denis to the Church of Saint Eustache which resulted in its naming. Jeanne Baptiste d"Albert de Luynes was baptised here.

According to tourist literature on-site, during the French Revolution the church, like most churches in Paris, was desecrated, looted, and used for a time as a barn. The church was restored after the Revolution had run its course and remains in use today. Several impressive paintings by Rubens remain in the church today. Each summer, organ concerts commemorate the premieres of Berlioz’s Te Deum and Liszt’s Christus here in 1886.

The church is an example of a Gothic structure clothed in Renaissance detail. The church is relatively short in length at 105m, but its interior is 33.45m high to the vaulting. At the main façade, the left tower has been completed in Renaissance style, while the right tower remains a stump. The front and rear aspects provide a remarkable contrast between the comparatively sober classical front and the exuberant rear, which integrates Gothic forms and organization with Classical details. The L"écoute sculpture by Henri de Miller appears outside the church, to the south. A Keith Haring sculpture stands in a chapel of the church.

The Chapel of the Virgin was built in 1640 and restored from 1801 to 1804. It was inaugurated by Pius VII on the 22nd of December, 1804 when he came to Paris for the coronation of Napoleon. The apse chapel, with a ribbed cul-de-four vault, has at its centre a sculpture of the Virgin and Child of Jean-Baptiste Pigalle that the painter Thomas Couture highlighted by three large paintings.

With 8,000 pipes, the organ is reputed to be the largest pipe organ in France, surpassing the organs of Saint Sulpice and Notre Dame de Paris. The organ originally constructed by P.-A. Ducroquet was powerful enough for the premiere of Hector Berlioz" titanic Te Deum to be performed at St-Eustache in 1855.

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