Museo Civico at the Ursino Castle

The Museo Civico at the Ursino Castle in Catania represents the city’s most important museum by far, thanks to the variety and quality of its collection.

We are talking about oil paintings on canvas from the 19th century, Byzantine plates from the 15th century, and a great many archaeological finds from the Hellenistic-Roman period (such as vases and coins), ornamental objects, sacred vestments, as well as prints and engravings.

Prominent among all the exhibits are: the 6th-century B.C. head of Ephebus found in the excavations of ancient Leontinoi (now Lentini) and belonging to Ignazio Paternò Castello, the 3rd-century statue of Hercules from the excavations of the Zappalà Palace on A. di Sangiuliano Street, and the monumental torso of the Julio-Claudian Emperor depicted as Jupiter.

Among other things, many decorative fragments from the Theater and stupendous floor mosaics are also preserved, including the beautiful “Utere Feliciter” placed at the entrance to the Nymphaeum in Dante Square.

The stone stele of Q. Atilius, also called the Carcaci cippus, and the fragment of decoration from the excavations near the Gate of Charles V are also part of this magnificent collection.