Catania's La Pescheria Fish Market: Swordfish, Sea Urchins and a Morning Show Behind Piazza Duomo

Walk out of Catania's cathedral square, past the elephant fountain, and look for the stairs going down by the fountain of Amenano. The noise reaches you first. Then the wet stone and the smell of the sea. This is La Pescheria, 'a Piscaria in Catanese, and it's been the city's fish market for about two hundred years.

It fills Piazza Alonzo di Benedetto and Piazza Pardo, tucked behind Piazza Duomo under the old Charles V walls and Palazzo dei Chierici. You can come in from the north through Porta Uzeda or from the square itself. The market used to stand in Piazza Mazzini and moved to this spot in the early 1800s.

Fishmonger in a red apron cutting large fish on a wooden stall at La Pescheria in Catania

That's the scene at mid-morning. Big red cuts laid out on wooden boards, a fishmonger working through a whole fish with a long knife, the next stall shouting prices over his shoulder. Swordfish is the headline catch here. You'll also see red mullet, sea bream, cuttlefish, octopus, sardines, mussels and trays of sea urchins.

When to go

The market runs Monday to Saturday and is closed on Sundays. Opening hours vary depending on who you ask: roughly 7:00 or 8:00 until about 14:00, with Wednesday sometimes winding down by 13:00. The busy window is 10:00 to noon, when restaurant buyers and families are all there at once. Come at 8 for photographs, at 11 for theatre.

How to buy

You don't need to cook to enjoy it. The edges of the market are lined with fruit and vegetable stalls, and there's street food in the lanes around it. Prices are by the kilo. Point, ask "quanto?", and expect to be told the best fish is the one in front of you.

A few honest tips. Wear shoes you don't mind getting wet. Water is thrown across the stone all morning. Keep the phone in a front pocket in the crush. And don't treat the fishmongers as a backdrop. They're working. Ask before you point a camera at someone.

Catania tends to be treated as an airport city on the way to Taormina or Etna. The Pescheria is the best argument for staying a night.