"One of Italy's undiscovered gems " a Catania Travel Page by baronedivandastad

It's far away from the main tourist routes but it's near everything. Half an hour from Southern Italy's tallest mountain (the still very active volcano Etna) and a short shot from some of the best beaches and cliffs of Sicily, Catania truly has everything. The food is fantastic, the climate is excellent, people are very friendly (at least they are once you break the ice) and its late baroque city centre is one of the finest I've seen. My expectations were really low when I got there (and were reinforced after seeing the airport, a real disaster) but I'm now definitely in love with this city and everything it has.

I come to Catania at least once a month for business reasons. The city bet a lot on steel and heavy industry during the seventies and eighties. The results of this ill choice can be easily seen in the crumbling factories that populate a large part of the "Zona Industriale", the industrial campus that was built in the meadow just behind the airport.

However, largely thanks to investments by ST microelectronics, the city is seeing a new light these days, and a new high-tech center was born on the ashes of the steel factories.

Working in Catania is excellent. Despite stereotypes, Sicilians are hard-working types who put the maximum effort in achieving their objectives.

Also, the city is easy enough to navigate, especially if you move outside the rush hour, and provides for plenty of opportunities to break a long working day with a relaxing night.

Its airport is very well connected to the two main hubs of Italy (Rome and Milan), and hopes flourish that it will even start functioning well after the neverending enlargement that it seems to be undergoing.