4 Best Sights in Sicily, Italy

The underground Amenano River flows beneath much of Catania. You can glimpse it at the Fontana dell'Amenano, a Carrara marble fountain on the Piazza del Duomo that was built in 1867. It's a popular meeting point and tourist attraction. However, one of the best places to experience the river is at the bar-restaurant A Putia dell'Ostello ( Piazza Currò 6  095/7233010  www.agorahostel.com). Here you can sit at a lantern-lit underground table as the water swirls through. If you're not planning to stay for a drink, someone from the bar will sell you a €1 ticket to walk into the cavelike seating area. Aside from the underground river, the bar area aboveground is a lively, fun spot to hang out on a Monday evening when many other places are closed.

A freshwater spring, the Fountain of Arethusa sits next to the sea, studded with Egyptian papyrus that's reportedly natural. This anomaly is explained by a Greek legend that tells how the nymph Arethusa was changed into a fountain by the goddess Artemis (Diana) when she tried to escape the advances of the river god Alpheus. She fled from Greece, into the sea, with Alpheus in close pursuit, and emerged in Sicily at this spring. It's said if you throw a cup into the Alpheus River in Greece, it will emerge here at this fountain, which is home to a few tired ducks and some faded carp—but no cups. If you want to stand right by the fountain, you need to gain admission through the aquarium; otherwise look down on it from Largo Aretusa.

The square's centerpiece, a lavishly decorated fountain with 500 separate pieces of sculpture and an abundance of nude figures, so shocked some Palermitans when it was unveiled in 1575 that it got the nickname "Fountain of Shame." It's even more of a sight when illuminated at night. Sadly, there is no water in the fountain at present while it awaits a major repair.

This central square houses an elaborate 18th-century Baroque water fountain whose mountain water source has been vital for centuries. The Fontana dei Quattro Cannoli was once the social and commercial heart of the medieval city.