Catania at night

There is one thing people arriving in Catania do not expect: the city never stops. Whatever time you go out — eight in the evening, midnight, two in the morning — the streets are full, restaurants have people waiting outside, and there is loud laughter on the pavements. This is not folklore, and it is not a special occasion. It is simply every day.

Around here, nobody is intimidated by Barcelona.

The old town at night is a different place from the old town in the morning — the same baroque palazzi, the same lava stone, but with music bouncing off the walls and tables taking up every free inch. Somebody is playing in the street, somebody is drinking wine standing outside a shop, somebody is walking into a former church that has become something else. Every corner tells a story, and never the same one twice.

The city does not sleep, and it does not take itself too seriously. You do not need the right outfit, and you do not need to know where to go. It hands you a glass of wine, an arancina at dawn and a piece of itself, different every night.

Catania imitates nobody, but it talks to the great European capitals. In its own way. Which is exactly why it stays with you.

Fra le Righe sits in the middle of all this. Step out of the door and you are already inside it.