Giovanni Battista Vaccarini

Giovanni Battista Vaccarini ( born February 3, 1702 Palermo, † March 11, 1768 ) was an Italian architect and builder and one of the most important representatives of the Sicilian Baroque.

When the city was almost completely destroyed Catania on the east coast of Sicily after a volcanic eruption of Mount Etna in 1669 and after a major earthquake in 1693, it was built according to plans Vaccarini again.

Vaccarini oriented next to Francesco De Sanctis on other contemporary architects from Rome and shaped like no other the image of today's historic center of Catania. Under his construction management, among others, the cathedral of Catania, the Church of San Benedetto, the former Benedictine Monastery of San Nicola, now a university building, the Palazzo Valle and the Palazzo Reburdone were rebuilt. Vaccarini masterpiece is the Palazzo Municipale, the town hall of the city. Even the elephant fountain in front of the Town Hall, is the symbol of Catania, comes from Vaccarini.