La Pescheria, Catania

After breakfast at “our local” we made our way to La Pescheria, just off the Piazza del Duomo. At the entrance to La Pescheria, on the edge of the Piazza is Fonatana dell’Amenano, a fountain built in 1867 with fine marble from Carrara. Dedicated to the Amenano which is one of the two rivers of Catania and is no longer visible, due to the nature of an underground river that seems to have acquired in 252 BC due to an eruption of Etna that literally buried it. The fountain is formed by a large white shell-shaped container and above it stands the statue of Amenano, a pagan deity worshiped by the Greeks and seems to be a fitting entrance to La Pescheria.

La Pescheria is the weekday fish markets, a rowdy spectacle surround by seafood restaurants, most of which were still closed when we were there. This is definitely a place to experience and is a photographer’s paradise. So much to see from the stalls filled with different types of fish, silver sardines shimmering in the sunlight, sword fish strung up to appear to be bursting from the water, crustaceasns, octopuses that still move and tuna as tall as humans. Add in the wrinkled and sun hardened fishermen, it is a shopping experience like no other.

Along side the fish market is the food market with stalls selling huge wheels of so many different types of cheeses, slaughtered meats hung everywhere, shaved sheep heads, huge sausage strings, and tables filled to abundance with colourful fresh fruit and vegetables. Sacks full of nuts, jars of spices, artichokes being cooked over open fires, so much is going on. It is a taste of the real CataniaLæs mere