Landing at Catania Fontanarossa Airport

What CTA is like

Catania is the busiest airport in Sicily and the start of the island for most visitors. In summer it is genuinely crowded, because holiday flights from across Europe land in the same few hours into a building with limited room, which makes the baggage hall the real bottleneck. What sets this airport apart from the mainland ones is what waits outside it: a volcano tall enough to change how signal behaves, and long country roads between small towns.

On arrival

Switch the line on before you stand up, because the busiest moment here is the wait at the belt, exactly when you want to message whoever is meeting you or confirm a car pick-up. Most European arrivals skip passport control. There are only so many belts and in summer the wait is real. The car rental desks are not in the same place as the arrivals doors, so read the airport's signage together with your booking confirmation rather than wandering. Set your route and download the map while the car is still parked, not once you are moving.

How far the airport Wi-Fi gets you

There is airport Wi-Fi, but in a summer hall so full that there is barely room to stand, the speed collapses and even the sign-in page loads slowly. The thing to understand is that Sicily is a driving island: once you leave the building there is no public Wi-Fi to lean on until you reach your accommodation. On the road up Etna and on the country roads between small towns, your mobile line is the only thing you have. That is why people want it live before they walk out of the terminal.

Getting into town

Catania itself is not far, with buses into town and to the railway station, but most visitors to Sicily take a car because the places they want are spread out. The classic drive is up Etna, where coverage is normal through the villages on the lower slopes and then thins as you climb and put a ridge between yourself and the masts. The other is the coast road north towards Taormina, which passes through a run of short tunnels that cut the signal and hand it back every few minutes. If you take a boat out to one of the smaller islands, the open water in the middle is noticeably thinner. A full day driving in Sicily runs around 1GB, because the map stays open and you keep looking up somewhere new.

What people ask about this airport

• Set the route before you pull out — The roads outside split quickly and the signs come up fast. Setting the route while parked keeps you out of a late decision in the wrong lane.
• Etna thins as you climb — Coverage is normal in the lower villages and weakens as you climb behind a ridge. Tell your accommodation your expected time before you set off.
• In summer the bags are the wait — Holiday flights land together, so allow for the belt and do not schedule a car pick-up too tightly behind your landing time.