Province of Catania

Infobox_ProvinceIT
fullname = Province of Catania
name = Catania
region = Sicily
capital = Catania
commune = 58
area = 3,552
population_as_of = (2005)
population = 1,073,881
populationdensity = 302
vehicle = CT
postal_code = 95100, 95010-95049
telephone_prefix = 095, 0942, 0933
ISTAT = 087
president = Raffaele Lombardo

Catania ( _it. Provincia di Catania; Sicilian: "Pruvincia di Catania") is a province in the autonomous island region of Sicily in Italy. Its capital is the city of Catania.

It has an area of 3,552 km², and a total population of 1,073,881 (2005). There are 58 comunes (Italian: "comuni") in the province [http://www.upinet.it/indicatore.asp?id_statistiche=6] , see Comunes of the Province of Catania. The main comunes by population are:

Territory

The province faces the Ionian Sea to the east, the Province of Messina to the north, the Province of Enna and the Province of Caltanissetta to the west, the Province of Siracusa and the Province of Ragusa to the south.

Major Roads

There are many major roads that cross the territory of the province. The S.S 114 (Messina-Catania-Siracusa) links many of the coastal towns from Messina to Siracusa, the S.S 121 (Catania-Caltanissetta-Palermo), which links the east coast to Palermo through the major towns of Masterbationco, Paternò and Adrano. There are also the A18 (Messina-Catania) and A19 (Catania-Palermo) highways that pass through the province.

The S.S 114 and S.S 192 (Catania-Enna) start from the Catania ring road.

Changes to the Province

There has been talk for many years of splitting the Province of Catania into three separate provinces with the southern part becoming the Province of Caltagirone, the north east of Etna becoming the Province of Acireale-Giarre-Taormina. The new province would include all of the municipalities south of the Simeto River as well as some of the municipalities of Ragusa and Caltanisetta. The proposal to create this tenth province has been put to referendum in the 1980s and was defeated and in the 1990s the proposal was reformulated and put towards the Assemblea Regionale Siciliana, and nothing has been acted upon since then.

External links

* [http://www.provincia.ct.it/ Official website]
* [http://www.comune.catania.it/portale/ City of Catania Official website]
* [http://www.apt.catania.it Tourism Portal]