Discovering the origin of a name is always extremely fascinating.
For Catania we must return to the time of the Sicels, a population that inhabited Sicily before the Greeks.
They called their village “Katana”, meaning grater, to emphasise the irregular and porous surface of the solidified lava. Over the centuries the name underwent some changes. It was Katana for the Greeks, Katina for the Romans, Katani for the Byzantines and changed completely during the Arab occupation of Sicily.
With the Arabs expelled from the island, Catania recovered its original name.
