City (pop., 2001 prelim.: 306,464), Sicily , Italy.
It was founded by Greeks in 729 BC at the foot of Mount Etna on the Gulf of Catania. Taken by the Romans in the First Punic War (263 BC), Catania was made a Roman colony by Octavian (later Augustus ). Catanian Christians suffered under the emperors Decius and Diocletian ; their martyrs included St. Agatha , patron saint of the city. Catania fell successively to the Byzantines, Arabs, and Normans, and it suffered devastation by earthquakes especially in 1169 and 1693. In World War II the city was severely damaged by bombing. Rebuilt, it is Sicily's second largest city and is an industrial and transportation centre.