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 state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions out ...

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 ...

. 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 b ...

. 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), 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 Enna ( it, Provincia di Enna; sicilian language, Sicilian: ''Pruvincia di Enna''; officially ''Libero consorzio comunale di Enna'') is a Provinces of Italy, province in the autonomous island region of Sicily in Italy. It was created in 1927, out ...

. It was replaced by the

Metropolitan City of Catania The Metropolitan City of Catania ( it, Città metropolitana di Catania) is a metropolitan city in Sicily, southern Italy. Its capital is the city of Catania. It replaced the Province of Catania and comprises the city of Catania and other 57 munic ...

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 Punic Wars, three wars fought between Roman Republic, Rome and Ancient Carthage, Carthage, the two main powers of the western Mediterranean in the early 3rd century BC. For 23 years ...

, 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 ...

, of which the first eruption was recorded in 475 BC. It was hit by a devastating earthquake in 1169, 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. 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 Ame ...

, 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 ...

. 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 ...

at the north-east. The Province of Caltanissetta and the

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 provinc ...

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 Cor ...

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 percen ...

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 ...

History

Geography

Subdivisions

See also

Notes and references

Notes

References