Housed in the brooding 13th-century Castello Ursino, Catania's civic museum holds the valuable Biscari archaeological collection, an extensive collection of paintings, vases and sculpture, and an impressive coin collection. It's also home to a series of 15th- to 19th-century paintings, with notable works including Jusepe de Ribera’s Profetta, Pietro Novelli's San Cristoforo and Natale Attanasio’s quietly unnerving Sunt Lacrimae rerum (Crazy Women).
Also on display is a small collection of historical etchings, engravings, maps and watercolours depicting Catania through the ages.