title: Santa Maria di Licodia
text: # Santa Maria di Licodia
  
  Santa Maria di Licodia (Sicilian: Santa Marìa di Licuddìa ) is a town and comune in the Metropolitan City of Catania, eastern Sicily, southern Italy.
  
  ## History
  
  Santa Maria di Licodia occupies traditionally the site of the ancient Aetna, a settlement founded by the colonists whom Hiero I of Syracuse had placed at Catania after their expulsion by the original inhabitants in 461 BC, which absorbed or incorporated an already existing Sicel town named Inessa.
  
  ## Main sights
  
  * Chiesa Madre (Mother Church). Of the original medieval building, a bell tower has remained
  * Cherubim Fountain (1757)
  * Casina del Cavaliere, a Benedictine convent of medieval origin, outside the town.
  
  A large hoard of coins was found also outside Santa Maria di Licodia in 1891.
  
  In the nearby district of Civita is a large elliptical area, enclosed by a wall of masses of lava, which is about 8.5 metres (28 ft) wide at the base and 3 metres (10 ft) high. The ground is covered with fragments of tiles and pottery of the classical period, and it is probably a hastily built encampment of historic times rather than a primitive fortification, as there are no prehistoric traces.
  
  ## Twin towns
  
  * Rabat, Malta
  * Pisano Eteno, a frazione of Zafferana Etnea, Italy
  * San Giuseppe di Ognina, Catania, Italy
  