Province of Catania

Province of Catania
Province

Coat of arms

Map highlighting the location of the province of Catania in Italy
Country  Italy
Region Sicily
Capital(s) Catania
Comuni 58
Government
  President Giuseppe Castiglione
Area
  Total 3,552 km2 (1,371 sq mi)
Population (2012)
  Total 1,090,669
  Density 310/km2 (800/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
  Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code 95100, 95010-95049
Telephone prefix 095, 0942, 0933
Vehicle registration CT
ISTAT 087

Catania (Italian: Provincia di Catania; Sicilian: Pruvincia di Catania) is a province in the autonomous island region of Sicily in Italy. Its capital is the city of Catania.

It has an area of 3,552 square kilometres (1,371 sq mi) and a total population of about 1.1 million. There are 58 comunes (Italian: comuni) in the province , see Comunes of the Province of Catania. The main comunes by population are:

Comune Population
Catania 305,717
Acireale 52,394
Paternò 49,006
Misterbianco 46,251
Caltagirone 39,299
Adrano 35,779
Gravina di Catania 28,018
Aci Catena 27,992
Giarre 26,821
Mascalucia 26,284
Biancavilla 23,308
Belpasso 22,032
Tremestieri Etneo 21,362
San Giovanni la Punta 20,526
Bronte, Sicily 19,147
Aci Castello 18,084
Scordia 17,168
Aci Sant'Antonio 16,796
Palagonia 16,393

Territory

The province faces the Ionian Sea to the east, the Province of Messina to the north, the Province of Enna and the Province of Caltanissetta to the west, the Province of Siracusa and the Province of Ragusa to the south. Mount Etna, Europe's largest active volcano is located in the province.

Mount Etna is located in the Province of Catania
Panorama of Vizzini on the slopes of Monte Lauro
A close-up of Aci Castello, in the Province of Catania

Major roads

There are many major roads that cross the territory of the province. The S.S 114 (Messina-Catania-Siracusa) links many of the coastal towns from Messina to Siracusa, the S.S 121 (Catania-Caltanissetta-Palermo), which links the east coast to Palermo through the major towns of Misterbianco, Paternò and Adrano. There are also the A18 Messina-Catania and A19 Catania-Palermo motorways that pass through the province.

The S.S 114 and S.S 192 (Catania-Enna) start from the Catania by pass whilst the SS.514 runs through the southern part of the province and connects to Ragusa.

Its population is 305,717 people.

Proposed division

There has been talk for many years of splitting the Province of Catania into three separate provinces with the southern part becoming the Province of Caltagirone, the north east of Etna becoming the Province of Acireale-Giarre-Taormina. The new province would include all of the municipalities south of the Simeto River as well as some of the municipalities of Ragusa and Caltanisetta. The proposal to create this tenth province has been put to referendum in the 1980s and was defeated and in the 1990s the proposal was reformulated and put towards the Assemblea Regionale Siciliana, and nothing has been acted upon since then.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Province of Catania.

Coordinates: 37°31′N 15°4′E / 37.517°N 15.067°E / 37.517; 15.067

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