2 Best Sights in Sicily, Italy

Siracusa's principal museum of art is inside a lovely Catalan Gothic palazzo with mullioned windows and an elegant exterior staircase. Among the paintings is the Annunciation by 15th-century maestro Antonello da Messina, restored to its original brilliance. There are also exhibits of Sicilian Nativity figures, silver, furniture, ceramics, and religious vestments.

Closed to traffic but always buzzing with crowds, this piazza has at its heart an elephant carved out of lava, balancing an Egyptian obelisk. This is the city's informal mascot, called "U Liotru" in Sicilian dialect. The square also marks the entrance to Catania's famous pescheria (fish market) and is one of the few points in the city where you can see the Amenano River above ground. Another point of interest is Via Garibaldi, which runs from Piazza del Duomo up toward the impressively huge Porta Garibaldi, a black-and-white triumphal arch built in 1768 to commemorate the marriage of Ferdinando I.