On the floor, Catania, Italy makes for a putting Mediterranean metropolis with historical piazzas and vibrant Baroque buildings.

But nestled within the shadow of Mount Etna, Sicily's "Black City" is within the grips of a criminal offense epidemic with avenue muggings and carjackings on the rise. 

The spike in avenue crimes comes amid a drive by the Italian police to curb the affect of Sicily's famed Mafia households who've long-standing connections to the island.

An enormous drug haul passed off earlier this 12 months off the coast of Catania through which Italian police swooped on two tonnes of cocaine floating within the sea.

The seizure was the most important in Italy's historical past pointing to the rising significance of Sicility and the port of Catania to drug cartels working within the Mediterranean.

Catania was given the nickname the "black city" as a result of reality many buildings have turned black as a result of accumulation of volcanic soot and ashes, resulting in their darkened look.

Tourists flock to marvel at Catania annually at Mount Etna's frequent eruptions are sometimes wealthy pickings for avenue gangs.

The rise in thefts has led guests to be suggested to not stroll the town's streets at night time.

Travel security web site Travesafe-abroad suggested vacationers visiting Catania: "Don't wear expensive jewellery. Be sure your bags (purse and camera) are slung across your body and do not carry a lot of cash with you.

"Be alert and conscious of pickpockets, and motorcycle-riding snatch thieves concentrating on purses, wallets, and cellphones. Generally keep away from strolling at night time and take a taxi, like across the prepare station."

Visitors to Catania this summer have reported the town looks like a "dump" with "dubious-looking individuals" standing on street corners.

A recently returned tourist posted a scathing travel review on social media, writing on LinkedIn, holidaymaker Paul Topping wrote: "Our 4-star resort is in a minus 4-star space and we set out at night time for dinner making certain all that we supply solely 100 euros in case we get mugged. The resort employees inform us to watch out.

"Graffiti walls, dirty streets, garbage, more abandoned cars and lots of undesirables whom you avoid making eye contact with. It makes us feel like we are on some sort of movie set."

After a dinner out at a restaurant he stories: "We reroute our trip back to the hotel, staying under street lights. If we are going to get mugged at least we can see what’s going on."

Low-level avenue crime in not the one concern, Catania can also be blighted by organised criminals linked to the highly effective 'Ndrangheta' mafia clans.

The 'Ndrangheta' is basically considered Italy's strongest organized crime gang.

They are accused of cash laundering, legal tax evasion, drug dealing and arms smuggling.

The gang is centred in Calabria, southern Italy, and is considered certainly one of Europe's largest and strongest crime syndicates, having surpassed the Sicilian mafia in current a long time by delivering tens of billions of euros price of cocaine from South America to Europe.

Back in May Police in Italy arrested 108 individuals in an enormous operation concentrating on the crime group in an operation code-named Eureka.

Raids passed off in Catania in addition to in Rome, Milan, Salerno, bologna, and eight different cities.

The mafia is suspected of smuggling huge quantities of cocaine from South America to Europe through cargo ships docked in Antwerp, Rotterdam, and the Calabrian port of Gioia Tauro.

Catania has emerged as a serious vacation spot for large drug shipments, in addition to a essential location for sea and air routes connecting South America, North Africa, and Sicily.

In the case of drug transit by sea, packages of medication are left floating within the open sea, and coordinates defining the particular location of the cargo are given to these answerable for retrieving it.

Antonello Cracolici, the Regional Anti-Mafia Commission, addressed the problem of legal teams and gangs working within the province throughout a gathering on the Prefecture of Enna. The fee gathered with the Committee for Order and Security, twenty mayors of the province, and different institutional leaders.

Mr Cracolici acknowledged that in Sicily, there exists a robust group generally known as "Cosa Nostra".

He mentioned: "I don't think we can say, in Sicily, that there is a territory that is immune from the mafia presence, what has emerged so far is that, albeit with different characteristics, in Sicily there is a superstructure, which exerts its conditioning, called Cosa Nostra."

Additional reporting by Maria Ortega.