Photo: Berthold Werner (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Catania was buried twice in twenty-four years. In 1669 a lava flow from Etna went through the western quarters and into the sea, pushing the shoreline out so far it left Castello Ursino stranded inland, where it still stands. In 1693 the Val di Noto earthquake took almost everything else. What went up afterwards was one deliberate campaign of late Sicilian Baroque, on a new grid with streets cut wide as escape routes and faced in black Etna lava stone against white limestone — which is why the city reads black and white. Underneath it, several metres down, the Roman theatre, the odeon, the amphitheatre and four bath complexes are still there.
50 narrations, yours to keep — no subscription, no expiry. Works offline once downloaded, and if it isn’t for you we’ll refund it.
Going somewhere with no signal? Put the guide on your home screen first, then download it from that icon while you are on wi-fi — that way you download once, and it works in airplane mode with no roaming charges. Show me the order →
Every claim in this tour traces back to a named source — excavation records, the heritage authority for the site, and the primary texts themselves. Nothing is copied from other guidebooks, and anything we can't source doesn't make the recording.
Each stop is built from OpenStreetMap · 322 features in this old town (the field-surveyed mapping database behind Apple Maps), Wikidata · 71 cross-referenced entries (peer-reviewed structured records), the heritage authority below, and the primary historical texts where they exist.
Cross-referenced against Modern excavation publications · academic peer-review.
Every sentence is checked against those sources before it is recorded. If a claim can't be traced, it doesn't make the audio.
Every tour is reviewed by a person before it goes on sale. Stop selection, the route and anything ambiguous come back to the editor for a decision, and those questions routinely send a stop back for another accuracy pass. Nothing publishes on a machine’s say-so.
Spot anything inaccurate? Email [email protected] — fixed in the next pass.
The cathedral of Sant'Agata over a Roman bath complex, Vaccarini's lava-stone elephant, the fish market below, and the Achillean baths still running with water underneath.
The Greek-Roman theatre and the odeon beside it, the amphitheatre sunk in Piazza Stesicoro, and four separate bath complexes — most of them several metres under the modern pavement.
The Baroque street of convent façades, and San Nicolò l'Arena — one of the largest monastic complexes in Europe, still unfinished on the outside.
A Norman foundation over Roman baths, rebuilt in Baroque after the earthquake. Bellini is buried in a chapel off the south aisle.
Frederick II built it on a promontory above the sea. The 1669 lava flow went round it and left it inland, which is where you find it now.
A Roman theatre with houses built on top of it, entered through a doorway on a Baroque street.
A Benedictine complex so large it now holds a university faculty. The church beside it was never finished.
A Roman-era lava elephant on a Baroque plinth, carrying an Egyptian obelisk. Vaccarini assembled it from what the city already had.
Among the largest amphitheatres in Sicily, and almost entirely under the modern city. What you see in Piazza Stesicoro is a corner of it.
Tap "Start Walking Tour" and allow location access. The map shows all 50 narration points.
Follow the suggested route or explore freely. GPS tracks your position. Reach a site and the narration plays automatically.
Each site has its own narration — history, architecture, and the layers underneath. 50 narration points across the full tour.
Narrations play when you reach each site. No buttons, no track numbers. Walk naturally — the stories find you.
Premium narration that sounds like a documentary. Warm and knowledgeable, not a textbook reading.
Every narration is drafted, cross-checked against primary sources, then passed through a second editorial pass that strips unsupported claims. Dates, names, and citations verified.
See all narration points on the map. Tap any point to hear it early or replay it later.
Every significant point in the old city. The Roman sites and the Benedictine complex get deep dives; the oratories, gates and palazzi get focused stories.
Spend an hour or a full day. Skip sites, revisit favourites, take breaks. The tour adapts to you.
Three ways, all built in:
The map-tap option means you can stand anywhere — even at home before you travel — and play any narration. GPS just makes it hands-free while you’re actually walking the site.
No. Use the “Download for offline” button before you go, and the entire tour — audio, maps, narration text — works without any data connection. Tap-to-play and the map both work fully offline. GPS itself doesn’t need data; only the download does.
Add the icon first, then download from the icon. On iPhone a guide downloaded in Safari cannot be seen by the home screen icon, so downloading first means downloading the whole thing twice.
Putting it on your home screen — iPhone or iPad (Safari):
On Android (Chrome): tap the three-dot menu at the top right, tap Add to Home screen (some phones say Install app), then confirm. On Android either order works.
If you opened this link from inside Instagram, Facebook or Gmail, you are in that app’s built-in browser. It cannot add anything to your home screen, and a guide downloaded there is thrown away when the app closes. Open the link in Safari or Chrome first.
Two backstops. First, the map shows every site — just tap the marker for the place in front of you. Second, you can manually queue any narration even when GPS is off. The platform never assumes GPS works; it’s the convenience layer, not the gate.
The audio runs ~94 minutes total, but you walk at your own pace. 50 narration points across the site. Most visitors take 2–4 hours; some spread it over multiple visits. Once you buy it, it’s yours — there’s no expiry and no subscription. Come back next year if you like; the link in your receipt always works.
One purchase covers one device session. Most couples share earbuds and use a single phone — the audio is paced for that. If you want everyone listening on their own device, each person needs their own purchase. We do not gate sharing aggressively; we trust visitors to do the right thing.
Full refund if you never trigger a single narration on-site. Partial refund based on how far you got. See the refund policy for specifics.