Catania and its Hinterland in Antiquity: Environment, Territory, and Landscapes in Eastern Sicily

Founded by Chalcidian settlers in 729/728 BC at the foot of Mount Etna, Catania offers a particularly instructive case for the study of long-term relationships between city and environment in eastern Sicily. Greek in origin and later reshaped during the Roman period, the modern city preserves clear traces of antiquity in the morphology of both its urban fabric and its rural hinterland. This lecture examines Catania and its surrounding landscapes through an integrated digital approach combining archaeological evidence, architectural survey, historical cartography, and remote sensing in order to reconstruct the ancient topography of the Etnean region. Special attention is devoted to GIS-based data integration and to survey techniques applied to archaeological remains, which provide essential tools for the documentation and interpretation of complex stratified contexts. Set against a highly dynamic and diverse environmental background, marked by earthquakes and volcanic activity, the archaeological landscape of the Etnean region emerges as a complex historical palimpsest in which Greek and Roman evidence remains embedded in both urban and rural forms.

The lecture in English will take place at 6:00 PM c.t. in the Gartensaal of the Wiegandhaus (entrance at Peter-Lenné-Str. 28). If you are interested, we kindly ask you to register in advance via email: veranstaltung.zentrale@dainst.de.

The lecture will also be streamed via Zoom. Please use the following link: https://dainst-org.zoom.us/meeting/register/ZGllxglrRYuB0xqjdC3pBg