The history of the Excelsior Grand Hotel
Some historical notes on the city of Catania and the hotel
This city of just over three hundred thousand inhabitants was founded on the lava mantle of Etna’s slopes in the 7th century BC. It grew under the Romans and then the Normans, and several times it proved its resilience by recovering from ferocious sackings and devastating earthquakes – especially that of 1693, when the city was razed to the ground.
The then Viceroy ordered its reconstruction, and the city once again arose from the ashes of the disaster – a great task that left Catania a striking eighteenth century appearance, full of ornate spiral scrolls and baroque exuberance. This hardiness and strength is reflected in the choice of emblem for the city, a lava elephant, a powerful, solid, patient animal whose effigy decorates the monumental fountain in Piazza Dante, recalling ancient oriental cults and embodying the city folks’ stubborn toughness, so often tested by natural adversity.
At the beginning of the twentieth century Catania was also a white hot crucible of art and culture, cradle of an intelligentsia that loved to gather in the “caffè della capigliatura” or the “teachers’ bars”. The city is full of beauty and memories that entice the visitor into leisurely strolls, in search of churches, secluded monasteries and corners suffused with artistic charm.
But above all they demand to be looked at through different eyes, that seek to discover in them the secret of Catania’s pulsing, enviable vitality – the quality of an open-hearted city.