A theatre for 7,000 people, swallowed by the city for fifteen centuries. Houses still sit on its top tiers, and after rain an underground river floods the stage.
The Romans built the theatre into the hillside in the 2nd century AD, probably over an older Greek one. After antiquity the city simply grew on top of it.
For some 1,500 years the seats were quarried and built over, and houses still stand on the upper tiers. The Amenano, Catania's underground river, rises through the orchestra after rain and leaves it flooded.
Next door, the small, horseshoe-shaped Odeon was used for music and rehearsals. Both are in the same archaeological complex, with a little museum in the old houses.
Since June 2026 an integrated ticket (€10, reduced €5, online) also covers the Roman baths of the Rotonda and the Indirizzo. Castello Ursino is closed for restoration until 2027 and can be seen only from outside.
Two hours on one ticket.
Enter through the houses built into the theatre, now the site museum.
Walk the black lava tiers and the vaulted corridors beneath them.
Look for the water of the Amenano welling up through the stage.
The smaller music hall, tucked between modern buildings.
Use the same ticket for the city's Roman bath complexes.
Five minutes west of Piazza del Duomo along Via Vittorio Emanuele II.
Buy the integrated ticket online; reduced tickets need ID.
Castello Ursino's walls are worth a look from outside on the way to the sea.
Catania practical notes →Photographs from Wikimedia Commons and Pexels under their licences.
