People choose Catania for the beauties of the Baroque city center, for the tasty local food. But Catania is also chosen to spend a day by the sea on the beautiful beach of the city, looking at Mount Etna and a few steps from the city center and from the airport.

Thanks to its strategic position, Playa of Catania has always been the destination of the vacation of the citizens. The presence of equipped seashore (from tamburelli’s cup, surf and beach volley) and of some free beaches has made it the ideal place where to spend carefree days. Because of the bike path, it is even possible to go along the seaside by bike.

Along the Playa, there are also many discos, from caraibic dances to electronic music, and do not miss the happy hour on the beach at the sunset, Ibiza style. Every year, on May 1st, there are big music events, such as One Day Music and Revolution Day, that attract visitors from south Italy (20.000 participants attended the first edition). Several concerts of famous and up-and-coming bands or internationally renowned DJs.

Playa is a sandy coastal shore that extends for 18 km, from the port of Catania to Agnone Bagni (in Siracusa), with a depth of the sandy area that varies between some hundred meters and some km.

The area located north-east to the beach is the Boschetto della Playa (Grove of Playa), this green area is 280 km² big and has an equipped area that often hosts competitive and amateur sporting demonstrations. Along the sandy coast, there is also the Natural Reserve “Oasis of Simeto”, founded in 1984, which can be visited.

From 2010, the sea turtle (Caretta caretta) has been spotted along the coast. Nesting has been recording after 35 years, it probably happens because the turtle, born before the building of the seashore, remembering the geomagnetic coordinates of the zone of birth returned here. The last nesting was recorded at the end of July 2015 at the Lido Jolly.

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