Ground Penetrating Radar Survey inside the S. Agata Cathedral of Catania (Eastern Sicily)

The S. Agata Cathedral is the main church of Catania. It is located in the historicalcenter, on the eastern side of Duomo Square. Built by the Normans between 1070 and 1093,above the ruins of the “Achilliane” Roman thermae, this church was heavily damagedduring the earthquake on February 4, 1169. The amount of rubble was such that duringthe reconstruction phase, it was left on site by order of the bishop and the new floor wascreated on top of it, raising its level about 1 m. The pavement was reconstructed using alocal calcarenitic stone, replaced in the late 1500s by marble tiles (Salemi and Sanfilippo2004). During the catastrophic January 11, 1693 earthquake, the bell tower fell down,destroying the three naves of the church while the apses and main front remained nearlyintact. In 1709, making use of pre-existing architectural elements, Girolamo Palazzottobegan reconstruction in Sicilian Baroque style, building the central nave higher than thetwo lateral ones (Figure 1a). The pavement was again reconstructed using tiles of majolicaand further raised of approximately 40 cm. In 1736, Giambattista Vaccarini completed thefacade of the church including six columns of the previous Norman cathedral (Cordaro Clarenza 1833).