Monastero dei Benedettini di San Nicolò l'Arena

The Monastero dei Benedettini is an enormous monastic complex on the western edge of the historic centre, built in the eighteenth century on the site of an earlier monastery that was destroyed first by lava in 1669 and then by earthquake in 1693. It is now a faculty of the University of Catania, but most of the building can be visited on a guided tour.

The basilica next door, San Nicolò l'Arena, is the largest church in Sicily and was never finished — the bare facade, with squared stubs where columns and statues should be, has its own monumental presence. The combined visit takes about ninety minutes and is one of the most surprising in Catania.

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The Benedictine monastery is the second-largest in Europe — only the one at Mafra in Portugal beats it. The 1693 earthquake and the 1669 lava flow both ran through here; the rebuilt monastery sits on top of the lava, and parts of the original sixteenth-century cellars are still visible below, encased in cooled volcanic rock.

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