Catania
About Catania
Catania is the second-largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo, both by area and by population. Despite being the second city of the island, Catania is the centre of the most densely populated Sicilian conurbation, which is among the largest in Italy. It has important road and rail transport infrastructures, and hosts the main airport of Sicily. 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 province known as the Metropolitan City of Catania, which is the seventh-largest metropolitan area in Italy. The population of the city proper is 297,517, while the population of the metropolitan city is 1,068,563.
On the show — 6 mentions total
That explosion is also, as far as we can tell, the first historical recorded attempt to divert a lava stream as it's coming down. There was a town, Catania, and they dug trenches above the village in order to divert the stream of lava as it was coming down.
from No Such Thing As The Paula Radcliffe Of F1 Racing, 2025-05-29 at 00:42:25 · read transcript
Other times Catania came up
I mean, but as far back as then. I think, I believe that their neighbouring town was quite pissed off, wasn't it? Because it went into them. They re-diverted it. They put a blockage up and it went back to Catania. That's amazing. Fuck that, guys. Classic, classic neighbour behavior. It does sound amazing because to deal with a flow of lava is pretty challenging even with modern technology.
585: No Such Thing As The Paula Radcliffe Of F1 Racing, 2025-05-29 · listen
Wasn't there a town, was it in Spain or Italy, where there was a volcano going off, and the villagers kind of made a trench so that the lava wouldn't go into their town, but instead they directed it into the next town. It was in Sicily, it was when Mount Etna exploded. The village was called Catania, and they dug an artificial breach, so to redirect the lava. The really cool thing is, do you know how they kept cool?
123: No Such Thing As A Molten Lava Football Pitch, 2016-07-22 · listen
Instead they directed it into the next town. It was in Sicily. It was when Mount Hetner exploded. The village was called Catania, and they dug an artificial breach, so to redirect the lava. The really cool thing is, do you know how they kept cool? They wore wet sheepskins while they were working. The villagers, who they redirected the lava flow to, then redirected it back to this other place called Patrano, and the Paturnians just sent it right back their way.
No Such Thing As A Molten Lava Football Pitch, 2016-07-22 · listen
Where is your stage ship? Sorry. This is very cool though, isn't it? This is that the Italian province of Catania, which is where Etna is, is divided into municipalities. There are 10 municipalities and they all meet at the top of Etna. In fact, I think it's actually split at that peak into 11 sections because one of the municipalities Bronte scoops around and nicks two portions of it.
585: No Such Thing As The Paula Radcliffe Of F1 Racing, 2025-05-29 · listen
More places from this episode
No Such Thing As The Paula Radcliffe Of F1 Racing put 2 places on the map.
- Aetna · Italy
Coordinates: 37.5000, 15.0903