u/ArtisticRide6852

Black lava stone facade with rusticated pilasters, ornamented portal, wrought iron balconies, supported by intricately carved corbels with mascarons depicting Sicilian folk creatures and myths.

Sadly some of these were damaged by Russian airstrikes. May they see new life again once the war is over.

The image on the right is credited to Instagram Traviswalkssanfrancisco. The image on the left is a random image I found of the building from some 10 odd years ago before the current paint job was applied.

I just spent a week in Sicily from the US, mostly in Taormina. I know its a touristy town that most people here are tired of hearing of, although I will to give it credit it is a very pretty place with some cool things to see beyond just lounging in the sun. Plus despite being touristy, as far as resort towns go it didn't have anywhere near the same volume of obnoxious influencers like Positano or Santorini.

But obviously going to Taormina, I had to transit through Catania. Like so many, first impressions of the city are almost always off putting for the graffitti, trash, driving etc. However, as I had two days left to kill in Catania before flying back to the States, I felt I might as well give the city a chance and boy am I glad I did.

There's no two ways around it, by European standards Catania is grimey. But beneath the grit is the immense history and beauty of the city. For one, a lot of what we see in Catania today was the result of the city's rebuilding after the 1693 Earthquake in the Baroque style. One thing that definately struck me how decently planned the city actually is. In contrast to Naples, which I have never been to, but which I know is famous for preserving its medieval layout of narrow maze like streets that are almost claustrophic, the streets of Catania's city center are more spacious and connected to several major arterial boulevards like the Via Etnea. I also really appreciated how Via Etnea was for the most part closed to vehicular traffic. It is indeed quite a human scale city.

Enough though about the planning of Catania. When it comes to Catania, Baroque is in emphasis because man is the city's architecture gorgeous. Just so many ornamented facades and balconies perched on top of corbels, in fact the uniformity of so many of these facades kind of reminded me of Paris. And one thing I appreciated was just walking the town and turning a corner, you'd somehow come across a beautiful classical statue that's just really sitting there. On top of being aesthetically pleasing, I noticed that despite the rough appearance the city is quite chill. Unlike Barcelona where its a good idea to have your hands on your belongings at all times, I had my guard up at first but soon realized there wasn't much I had worry about.

Being able to experience such a raw but beautiful city was the perfect capstone to my trip in Sicily. It really is a magical island with so much history and my biggest regret is not exploring more of it. But hey, that's what next time is for 😄 .

1. The one you all might have seen already, the Graughan House
2. Chambord Apartments
3. 1347 McAllister Street
4. 91 Central Ave.
5. 2411 Webster Street
6. 1250 Pine Street
7. 2415 Franklin Street
8. 1677 Haight Street
9. 1224 Taylor Street
10. 850 Geary Street

Built in red brick to reflect the surrounding historical warehouse architecture.

Georg von Dollmann's career was defined by being the chief architect of Ludwig II's fairytale palaces, but he also designed other buildings in southern Germany, this among them.