PORTA GARIBALDI

Porta Ferdinandea, after 1860 entitled Porta Garibaldi, is a triumphal arch built in 1768 in Catania to a design by Stefano Ittar and Francesco Battaglia to commemorate the wedding of King Ferdinand III of Sicily and Maria Carolina of Habsburg-Lorraine. It is located between Piazza Palestro and Piazza Crocifisso, at the end of Via Giuseppe Garibaldi, in the Fortino district, in the Catania dialect Furtinu.

The monument is made by alternating white stone from Syracuse and blocks of local dark lava. At the top center of the arch there is now a clock, surrounded by allegorical symbols, including an eagle and an elephant, the symbol of Catania. Originally, instead of a clock, there was a marble bust of the Bourbon king. On the second level there are two angels with trumpets, on the third two Trophies of arms, with sculptural representations of weapons and armor and two sentences are written: one says Litteris armatur (armed with letters) and the other Armis decoratur (decorated with the weapons). On the east side, the gable shield depicts a Phoenix rising from the flames with a scroll that reads Melior de cinere surgo (Better from the ashes I rise).

The area is called 'u Furtinu in memory of a fort built by the viceroy Claudio Lamoraldo, prince of Ligne, after the 1669 lava eruption that hit the city on the entire western side, canceling its medieval defenses. Of the advanced fortification that once stood south of Piazza Palestro, which has now disappeared, only a door remains in via Sacchero.

Some buildings connected to the gate were demolished in the 1930s, others today are quite poor and far from symmetrical. The redevelopment of the square has certainly given another aspect to the door, but it is still far from the original projects.