Catania & Etna
UNESCO heritage starting from Relais San Giuliano
Catania, the Etna volcano and the wine road
Catania is rich in folklore, nightlife, art and history. Get ready for a journey between the baroque surface and the underground mysteries of a city that never sleeps. Our concierge team will happily give you all the details on the routes that interest you and set you up with an expert guide.
During your stay, Etna will be a constant, comforting presence, with all its natural, historical and cultural attractions.
Relais San Giuliano’s lovely spot in Viagrande also makes it perfect for true wine-lover getaways, sitting right on the Strada del Vino dell’Etna. Keep the wine discovery going back at the hotel, with a sommelier-led tasting.
Catania
Just over 20 minutes by car from Viagrande, Catania is where the gold of Sicilian baroque meets the grey of lava stone.
Nothing captures the genuine soul of Catania quite like its historic fish market: a folkloric explosion of scent, sound, colour and flavour. You reach the “Piscaria” after passing refined Art Nouveau buildings and rococo church façades, all watched over by the Cathedral of Sant’Agata on Piazza del Duomo.
In an atmosphere that feels like an Arab souk, fresh fish, vegetables and fruit are sold every morning, amid stories, anecdotes, proverbs and the kind of gesturing that says everything without a word.
Stop and listen to the fishmongers’ calls, taste some street food or a traditional dish in one of the area’s many trattorias, and slow right down: in Sicily, that’s simply how life works.
Against the market’s noise, Via dei Crociferi offers austere silence: a showcase of baroque sacred architecture so distinctive it made it onto film, in Zeffirelli’s “Storia di una capinera”, Faenza’s “I Viceré”, and Bolognini’s “Il Bell’Antonio” with Marcello Mastroianni and Claudia Cardinale. Look out for the contrast between black lava stone and white limestone, in the cloister of the Jesuit College and the Church of San Giuliano, attributed to Vaccarini, the great architect of Catania baroque.
The Catania you see in the sunlight is only half the story. Beneath it lies a mysterious underground city, built up layer by layer over centuries. Urban trekking routes take you down into the heart of a city reborn many times over.
Below the surface: thermal baths, aqueducts, fountains, even theatres, sanctuaries and noble residences, Greek, Roman and medieval alike. Fragments of a past waiting to be pieced back together, one step at a time.
Etna, discovering the volcano
Etna Park is complex and extraordinarily varied, with each slope telling its own lovely story.
The eastern side, humid and green, is full of lush woods, vineyards and citrus groves. It’s home to towns like Milo, known for its mild climate and its striking belvedere square dedicated to Franco Battiato, a much-loved national musical icon.
The western and northwestern side looks harsher, darker, marked by ancient and recent lava flows. Towns here include Bronte, world-famous for its DOP pistachios, grown on especially fertile volcanic soil.
Climb higher, and the landscape shifts fast: fields and towns give way to chestnut and oak woods, then Etna pine and birch forests, then, at the highest points, nothing but lava, black sand and smoking craters. An almost lunar world.
On the southern side, one of the most visited, sits Rifugio Sapienza, the starting point for high-altitude excursions. From here, the Etna cable car climbs quickly to the summit, with spectacular views of how the landscape changes with altitude and volcanic activity.
Nature, human settlement, geology: Etna shows how none of it ever really stands still. The volcano’s fire and the people who live on its slopes keep shaping the land together.
Etna Experience
Relais San Giuliano, on the slopes of Etna, organises exclusive excursions to experience the magic of Europe’s highest volcano, in every season.
Trekking through the craters. Quad or helicopter tours. Walks among the vineyards, with wine tastings at wineries along the slopes. There are countless lovely ways to discover Etna: its incredible biodiversity and the food and wine its fertile soil nourishes. Scenic viewpoints dot the mountain at every altitude, reachable on foot or comfortably by 4×4.
Relais San Giuliano offers unforgettable ways to see Etna in its full magnetism, with excursions at dawn or sunset.
Quando arriva la sera, i versanti dell’Etna, i campi lavici e le sue grotte assumono sembianze quasi lunari che riportano in vita il segreto mistero della “Muntagna”, come viene chiamata in dialetto locale, ispirazione di quei miti e quelle leggende che per secoli ne hanno tenuto vivo un riverente rispetto. Durante le notti di luna piena, poi, i licheni che crescono sulla pietra lavica assumono una colorazione argentea e si ha l’impressione di trovarsi in un paesaggio extra-terrestre, quasi lunare.
The Etna wine roads
For true wine lovers, or anyone simply curious about wine, Relais San Giuliano is the ideal starting point for walks among the wineries and vineyards behind Etna DOC.
The Strada del Vino connects towns with a strong winemaking tradition through food and wine tastings, guided winery and farm visits, and tours of vineyards, wine shops and wine museums, in towns like Riposto, Viagrande, Linguaglossa, Bronte and Castiglione di Sicilia.
The Strada del Vino dell’Etna offers a full, happy immersion into an area with a long winemaking history, one that earned Etna wines Sicily’s first Controlled Designation of Origin.
Paths of volcanic stone wind past ancient palmenti, rustic houses and terraces reaching up to 1000 metres above sea level, all beneath the volcano’s timeless profile, the very thing that gives local wines their character. Sandy, mineral-rich soil, made especially fertile by volcanic eruptions, combines with a continental climate and sea breeze to let both red and white grapes thrive here, producing bold wines known the world over for their unique character.
Etna Rosso DOC comes from Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Cappuccio grapes: intense aroma and flavour, ruby red colour. Etna Bianco DOC comes mostly from Carricante and Catarratto: straw yellow with golden hues, delicate on the nose and palate, with fresh citrus notes.
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