What is Riposto known for?

Named u ripostu, the cellar, because the wine of Mascali and Giarre was stored here before being shipped from the port. The largest marina on the eastern Sicilian coast, fishing and tourist berths in one harbour at the foot of the volcano. Merged with Giarre in 1939 under the fascist-era name Jonia, the two towns split again in 1945.

Riposto is a comune in the province of Catania, Sicily region of Italy, about 30 kilometers from Catania.

Sicily · Catania

Riposto

The Ionian port whose name comes from the Sicilian for cellar, where the wine of Mascali and Giarre was stored before shipping.

30 km / 19 mi

Nearest hub (Catania)

14,007

Population

May–Oct

Best time to visit

Why come

Riposto sits on the Ionian coast twenty-five kilometres north of Catania, at the eastern foot of Etna and the southern edge of the Giarre-Riposto conurbation. The name is commercial: u ripostu in Sicilian, the cellar, because the wine produced in the surrounding county of Mascali was stored here before being loaded onto ships. The town was the commercial port of Mascali from the sixteenth century onwards, won full administrative autonomy in the eighteenth, and was merged with neighbouring Giarre under the name Jonia from 1939 until 1945, when the two split again. Today the Porto dell'Etna, also called Marina di Riposto, runs as a combined tourist marina, fishing port and small commercial harbour. Locals still call the town the port of the volcano. Etna fills the western skyline, the railway runs to Catania along the coast, and the historic centre threads between churches built when the wine trade still paid for them.

The slow-trip planner

Building a trip? Find where Riposto fits in a slow Italy circuit.

Answer five questions. We will shape a geographically coherent slow trip from the 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip. Yours to save and share.

Plan your trip

Gallery

6 photos · scroll →

Known for

Porto dell'Etna
The combined tourist marina, fishing and commercial port, the largest pleasure harbour between Catania and Messina.
Chiesa Madre San Pietro
The mother church on the main square, rebuilt in the eighteenth century when Riposto's wine trade financed new construction.
Centro storico
Grid of streets parallel to the seafront, with palazzi and warehouses built during the eighteenth and nineteenth century wine boom.
Lungomare
Seafront promenade along the rocky Ionian shore, with views of Etna inland and the Calabrian coast across the strait.

When to visit

Best months · May–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

May, June, September and October are the dry, clear months when the Ionian is warm enough to swim and Etna stays visible from the seafront. July and August are hot and crowded: the marina fills with sailing traffic and the lungomare runs at full capacity until late. November through March is quiet. Many seasonal businesses close, the harbour returns to its fishing crews, and the wind off the strait carries rain in from the northeast. The volcano above the town, often capped with snow in winter, makes the cold months photographically rewarding even when the swimming season is over.