Ferrovia Circumetnea Catania Borgo Station

The past meets the future in an ancient station at the foot of Etna

The Catania Borgo station is the starting point of the Ferrovia Circumetnea, which since the end of the 19th century has connected Catania to the town of Riposto, circling Mount Etna, the large active volcano dominating the eastern coast of Sicily. 

Officially opened in 1895, the Borgo station still displays an old-world charm thanks to the historical signage, the colours that have characterised small village stations in Italy for decades, and the open-air museum housed in the station garden. There one can admire the small steam locomotive no. 14, once in service on the Circumetnea railway and now restored and on display in a corner where time seems to have stood still, amidst original signalling, a lever control system for signals and wire switches, and a hydraulic column that once served as a refuelling station for steam locomotives.

Beneath the small and charming Borgo station, in a meeting of past and present, is Catania’s namesake metro station.