Catenanuova was founded between 1727 and 1733 by Andrea Giuseppe Riggio-Statella, Prince of Aci Catena, to fulfil the last wishes of his mother, the Baroness Anna Maria Statella (died 1717) who wanted "to revive happy memories of childhood" after the 1693 Sicily earthquake had decimated her husband's family. A notarized document dated February 9, 1733 attests to the existence of Catenanuova at that date. Between 1731 and 1736 Catenanuova became a small urban center with full autonomy. The name of the town derived from "Aci Catena" and changed from "Terra della Nuova Catena" to "Catena la Nuova" to the present "Catenanuova".