Catania

Catania (/kəˈtɑːniə/,[3] .mw-parser-output .IPA-label-small{font-size:85%}.mw-parser-output .references .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .infobox .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .navbox .IPA-label-small{font-size:100%}also UK: /-ˈteɪn-/, US: /-ˈtæn-/,[4][5][6] Sicilian and Italian: [kaˈtaːnja] ⓘ) is the second-largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo, both by area and by population.[7] Despite its reputation as the second city of the island, Catania is the largest Sicilian conurbation,[citation needed] and among the largest in Italy. It has important road and rail transport infrastructures, and hosts the main airport in Sicily (fifth-largest in Italy). The city is located on Sicily's east coast, facing the Ionian Sea at the base of the active volcano Mount Etna. It is the capital of the 58-municipality region known as the Metropolitan City of Catania, which is the seventh-largest metropolitan area in Italy. The population of the city proper is 311,584,[2] while the population of the Metropolitan City of Catania is 1,107,702.[2] Catania was founded in the 8th century BC by Chalcidian Greeks in Magna Graecia.[8] The city has weathered multiple geologic catastrophes: it was almost completely destroyed by a catastrophic earthquake in 1169.[8] A major eruption and lava flow from nearby Mount Etna nearly swamped the city in 1669 and it suffered severe devastation from the 1693 Sicily earthquake.[8]