Catania is the birthplace of the composer Vincenzo Bellini in 1801. An opera house, the Teatro Massimo Bellini is named after him and a museum exists on the site of his birth.

In the late 1980s and 1990s Catania had a unique popular music scene with local radio stations. As a result of these idiosyncratic and regional radio stations Catania boasted a youth culture in which indie pop and indie rock from lesser known international bands like. As a result of the eclectic taste in indie pop and indie rock Catania has been the birthplace of a number of dynamic and unusual independent music record labels.