Cattolica is a town in Province of Rimini, Italy with 16,233 (2007) inhabitants. Fountain of the Sirens. Fountain of the Sirens. Archaeological excavations showed that the area was already settled in Roman times. Cattolica constitued in fact a pause in the travel for the pilgrims that covered the Bologna-Ancona-Rome route, in particular those directed to the sanctuary of Loreto or to St. Peter's in Rome. In 1500 it counted more than twenty saloons and inns. Only from the second half of the 19th century the fishing industry became relevant in the economy of the town. One of the first visitors of the beach of Cattolica was Lucien Bonaparte, brother of the Emperor, who preferred it to the noisy Rimini in 1823. The town became an independent commune in 1896. At the end of World War I the tourism industry became predominant.