Paternò

Paternò borders with the municipalities of Belpasso, Biancavilla, Catenanuova (EN), Centuripe (EN), Ragalna, Ramacca and Santa Maria di Licodia.[4] Its only hamlet (frazione) is the village of Sferro.[5]

Within Paterno there is a geologic feature named 'Salinelle', a place where small mud volcanoes emerge from cracks in the ground.[6] This area in which the Salinelle surfaces includes an archeological site currently uncovering evidence of Roman baths previously built on and thought to have used the Salinelle mud.

The site of Paterno was settled before 3500 BC. Its inhabitants were probably the Sicani, although it was located in mainly Sicel territory. The modern name derives form the Greek Paeter Aitnaion, meaning the "Fortress of the Etnaeans".

Ancient historians refer to two contiguous or nearby cities of Sican origin: Hybla Gereatis and Inessa (later renamed Aetna). Most modern scholars regard the place called Castro as the site of Aetna, about 4 km northeast from Paternò, on a hill projecting from the foot of the mountain.[7]

It was a centre of medium importance in the Greek and Roman eras.

Hybla and Inessa fell into Greek hands around 460 BC, when they were besieged by the Syracusans led by the tyrant Hieron I and the two centres were thus Hellenised.[8] They were also involved in the wars between the Syracusans and the Athenians and devastated by the latter, and later again by the former in 403 BC when Dionysius I of Syracuse came to power; in 396 BC he sent mercenaries to Aetna from Campania who carried out numerous massacres of the population for favouring the Athenians in 415 BC. Aetna and Hybla together with the other cities of eastern Sicily were liberated in 339 BC by the Corinthians led by general Timoleon.

The Greek "Silver of Paterno" treasure was found in 1909 and sold, but the majority is now in the Altesmuseum in Berlin.[9][10]

In 264 BC, the First Punic War broke out between the Carthaginians and the Romans and Aetna and Hybla sided with the former, but after their defeat the two villages fell inexorably under Roman domination. The Romans led by the consul Manius Otacilius Crassus entered Aetna around 243 BC and conquered 67 other Sicilian cities.

Sicily became a Roman province and suffered Roman tyranny and exploitation with the enslavement of its inhabitants. In 136 BC this led to the revolt led by Eunus and Cleone of Cilicia in the First Servile War. During this battle, Aetna served as a place of refuge for many rebels, but together with Hybla, it suffered the greatest damage at the end of the Second Servile War as agricultural and pastoral lands were damaged. The situation worsened further when Gaius Verres, praetor in Sicily in 73 BC, ordered extortion, robbery and violence of all kinds on the two towns, forcing them to deliver of 300 000 bushels of wheat and the payment of 50 000 sesterces.

Aetna and Hybla were included in the cities of civitates decumanae, liable to pay Rome the decuma tax of one tenth, and not enjoying the rights of other cities as they had been conquered after offering resistance. [11]

The longest aqueduct in Roman Sicily at 24 km length passed through the territory close to the city on its route to Catania.

It was largely depopulated in the three centuries before 1000 AD; during the subsequent Arab domination of Sicily, it was known as Batarnù. After the Norman conquest in the 1040s, they built the castle and founded the current city; it was renamed Paternionis and began a period of flourishing. It was here that King Frederick III of Sicily created the Camera Reginale ("Queen's Chamber") as a wedding gift for his wife Eleanor of Anjou, and this was inherited by the subsequent Queens of Sicily. This period of splendour for Paternò lasted until the 15th century, when it became a fief and in consequence slowly lost importance.

Historically, the area around Paternò was plagued by malaria, caused by the marshlands of the Plain of Catania. This has since long been remedied, and the urban development of the town enjoyed a large acceleration in the 1960s and 1970s.

• Norman Castle, built in 1072 by order of Roger I of Sicily.
• Santa Maria dell'Alto: Mother Church (Chiesa Madre) of the town, built in 1342 and largely modified in the early 18th century. It is connected by a scenic staircase to the Porta del Borgo
• San Francesco alla Collina (1346), with a church in Gothic style and remains of Baroque decorations.
• Rococo church of Cristo al Monte.
• Santa Caterina d'Alessandria
• Santa Maria della Valle di Iosaphat, commissioned in 1072 by Adelaide del Vasto, with a Gothic portal.
• Associazione Culturale Paternesi.com, a cultural association born in November 2002, from an idea of Giorgio Ciancitto, to take care of the city of Paternò around the world.
• Sanctuary of the Madonna Santissima della Consolazione
• The Paterno Salinelle site.

The steps of the Mother Church of Santa Maria dell'Alto.

The Norman Castle.

• Angelo Lo Jacono (1838–1898), writer and journalist

Paternò is served by three state roads leading to Catania, Randazzo and Troina areas.

The train station was originally used mostly for food transportation, and is now out of service. The main passenger station is part of the narrow gauge Ferrovia Circumetnea. The latter also provides a regular bus service to destination on the Catania-Adrano line.

• Santa Barbara, USA, since 1978
• Sesto Fiorentino, Italy, since 1981
• Menden, Germany, since 1987

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Paternò.

• Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Paternò" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 20 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 911.