# Catania: a listed volcano and a rebuilt Baroque town

> Etna has been World Heritage since 2013 on natural criterion viii, its regional park dates from 1987, and Catania is one of eight Val di Noto towns.

URL: https://myitalia.it/towns/catania/things-to-do
Last updated: 2026-09-03

Two UNESCO listings meet in Catania and they are about different things: Mount Etna, inscribed in 2013 for its geology, and the late Baroque town itself, one of eight rebuilt after the earthquake of 1693.

## The listed part of Etna is the empty part

Mount Etna has been on the World Heritage List since 2013 under natural criterion viii. The listed property covers the uninhabited summit portion of the volcano, 19,237 hectares, with a buffer zone of 26,220 hectares around it.

Its eruptive record is documented over at least 2,700 years, one of the longest continuous series anywhere. That record, not the shape or the view, is what the listing recognizes.

The practical reading: what UNESCO protects here starts above the last villages. The vineyards, the lava walls and the pistachio terraces on the flanks are outside the property and inside the park.

## The park: 59,000 hectares, and the first in Sicily

The Parco dell'Etna was established by decree of the President of the Sicilian Region on March 17, 1987, the first regional park created in Sicily, covering 59,000 hectares with its seat at Nicolosi.

The park is roughly three times the listed area, which is the number that tells you where you will actually spend your day. Almost every road, refuge and marked path on the volcano is park, not World Heritage core.

Access rules are the missing piece. The park does not publish its zoning or the rules for reaching the summit craters, so the altitude above which a volcanological guide becomes compulsory is not stated on this page.

## Catania, one of eight Baroque towns

Catania is one of the eight towns that make up the UNESCO property "Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto", inscribed in 2002 under criteria i, ii, iv and v. The others are Caltagirone, Militello Val di Catania, Modica, Noto, Palazzolo Acreide, Ragusa and Scicli.

All eight were rebuilt after the Val di Noto earthquake of 1693, which is why the historic center has one architectural date rather than five. The black lava stone used in Catania makes its version of that Baroque unlike the honey colored version at Noto or Ragusa.

Walking the old center with that in mind changes what you notice: not individual monuments, but the consistency of a town designed at once.

## Building a day out of the two

The volcano and the town are two halves of one day, and each has its own half: the summit clouds over from midday, the lava stone streets only fill up after dark.

Mornings belong to the mountain, where cloud builds from midday. Afternoons and evenings belong to the lava stone streets down here, which hold the heat and come alive late.

More in [Catania](/towns/catania), [Etna](/nature/etna) and [how tall Etna is](/stories/nobody-agrees-how-tall-etna-is).

## FAQ

### Why is Etna a UNESCO site?

It was inscribed in 2013 under natural criterion viii, for geology. The listed area is the uninhabited summit portion of the volcano, 19,237 hectares with a buffer zone of 26,220 hectares, and its eruptive activity is documented over at least 2,700 years.

### How big is the Etna park?

59,000 hectares. The Parco dell'Etna was created by decree of the President of the Sicilian Region on March 17, 1987 and was the first regional park established in Sicily. Its offices are at Nicolosi, in the province of Catania.

### Is Catania itself a UNESCO site?

Yes, as one of the eight late Baroque towns of the Val di Noto, listed in 2002 under criteria i, ii, iv and v. The others are Caltagirone, Militello Val di Catania, Modica, Noto, Palazzolo Acreide, Ragusa and Scicli.

### Do you need a guide to go up Etna?

The park sets the rules above a certain altitude, but it does not list either the zoning or the summit access conditions on its pages, so no altitude threshold is stated here. Guided ascents are sold from Rifugio Sapienza on the south side.

### What links the volcano to the look of the city?

The 1693 Val di Noto earthquake. Eight towns were rebuilt in late Baroque afterwards, and Catania is one of them, which is why the old center reads as a single period rather than a layered accumulation.

## Sources

| Fact | Source | Confidence | Valid until |
|---|---|---|---|
| Il Monte Etna e' iscritto nella Lista del Patrimonio Mondiale dal 2013 con il criterio naturale viii; il sito coincide con la porzione sommitale disabitata del vulcano e misura 19.237 ettari, con una zona tampone di 26.220 ettari. L'attivita' eruttiva dell'Etna e' documentata da almeno 2.700 anni, una delle serie storiche piu' lunghe al mondo. | [Ministero della Cultura - Ufficio UNESCO](https://unesco.cultura.gov.it/projects/monte-etna/) | medium | 2099-12-31 |
| Il Parco dell'Etna e' stato istituito con decreto del Presidente della Regione Siciliana il 17 marzo 1987 ed e' stato il primo parco regionale siciliano; si estende su 59.000 ettari e ha sede a Nicolosi, in provincia di Catania. | [Ente Parco dell'Etna](https://www.parcoetna.it/) | medium | 2099-12-31 |
| Catania e' una delle otto citta' che compongono il sito UNESCO 'Le citta' tardo barocche del Val di Noto', iscritto nel 2002 con i criteri i, ii, iv e v; le altre sono Caltagirone, Militello Val di Catania, Modica, Noto, Palazzolo Acreide, Ragusa e Scicli, tutte ricostruite in tardo barocco dopo il terremoto del 1693. | [Ministero della Cultura - Ufficio UNESCO](https://unesco.cultura.gov.it/projects/le-citta-tardo-barocche-della-val-di-noto/) | medium | 2099-12-31 |

## Image

https://media.myitalia.it/media/city.catania.v2.1600.jpg
Author: Luca Aless. License: CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0).
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Catania_-_Piazza_Duomo_03.jpg

## Other languages

- it: https://myitalia.it/it/paesi/catania/cosa-fare.md
- es: https://myitalia.it/es/pueblos/catania/que-hacer.md
- fr: https://myitalia.it/fr/villages/catania/que-faire.md
- de: https://myitalia.it/de/orte/catania/aktivitaeten.md