t Elegant and picturesque Messina marina, over-looked by mountains
Comfortably situated between the eastern and western Mediterranean, Messina has always acted as a meeting point, and over the centuries it has been populated by various communities from maritime Europe. The city’s layout is quite easy to understand if you arrive by sea. The defences of Forte San Salvatore and Lanterna di Raineri are your introduction to Messina. The main streets are Via Garibaldi, which skirts the seafront, and Via I Settembre, which leads from the sea to the centre of town. The Botanic Garden and the Montalto Sanctuary are located on the hillside above the city.
t Elegant and picturesque Messina marina, over-looked by mountains
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Paradoxically, the devastating 1908 earthquake helped to “restore” the original 12th– 13th-century structure of this Norman church, as it destroyed almost all the later additions and alterations. The nave has two side aisles and leads to the apse with its austere brick cupola.
In the square in front of the Annunziata church is a statue of John of Austria, the admiral who won the famous Battle of Lepanto (1571), with his foot on the head of the defeated Ottoman commander Alì Pasha. The work was sculpted in 1572 by Andrea Calamech.
The pedestal celebrates the formation of the Holy League and the defeat of the Turks in this historic naval battle. One of the sailors taking part was the great Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote, who recovered from his wounds in a Messina hospital.
Or 1.5 miles, the distance of the Strait of Messina, separating Sicily from mainland Italy.
At 5:20am on 28 December 1908, an earthquake and a tsunami struck Messina at the same time, razing over 90 per cent of the buildings and killing 60,000 people. Reconstruction began immediately, and some of the remains of the old town were salvaged by being incorporated into a new urban plan based around the harbour.
In 1882, the author Frances Elliot wrote: “Nothing I have seen in Europe can compare with the Marina of Messina.” For Elliot, Messina was “the gate of the promised land”, boasting the largest natural harbour in the Mediterranean. The buildings that lined the marina before the earthquake were part of the Palazzata complex, also known as the Teatro Marittimo, a series of buildings that extended for more than a kilometre in the heart of the port area.
The university was founded in 1548, closed by the Spanish in 1679 and reconstructed at last in 1927. Follow Viale Principe Umberto, and you will come to the Botanic Garden and the Montalto Sanctuary, with the Madonna of Victory standing out against the sky.
This elegant 16th-century marble fountain stands next to the cathedral and incorporates statues representing the rivers Tiber, Nile, Ebro and Camaro (the last of which was channelled into Messina via the first aqueduct in the city specifically to supply the fountain with water).
The garden of the Villa Mazzini is decorated with busts and statues, and is also home to the Municipal Aquarium, where you can observe hundreds of species of Mediterranean sea life housed in tanks that are fed by sea water directly from the Strait of Messina. Next door is the Palazzo della Prefettura, in front of which is the Fountain of Neptune, sculpted in 1557 by Giovanni Angelo Montorsoli, which depicts the god of the sea vanquishing the monsters Scylla and Charybdis. The statues are actually 19th-century copies; the originals are on display in the Museo Regionale Interdisciplinare.
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Eat La Pitoneria From an ordinary-looking storefront, pitoni messinesi (or pitoni) is served from early morning to late at night. Made of folded dough stuffed with endive, tomato, cheese and anchovy, it’s flash-fried in hot oil to render it light and crispy. ⌂ Via Palermo 8/10 § 090-344 822 ¢ Tue ¡¡¡ |
t Messina’s Duomo
Messina’s cathedral is the heart of the town in every sense. Although it was reconstructed after the 1908 earthquake and the 1943 bombings, the cathedral has succeeded in preserving many of its medieval aspects. First built in 1197, you can still see the original central portal, installed in the early Middle Ages and decorated with two lions and a statue of the Virgin Mary and Infant Jesus. The side doors are decorated with statues of the Apostles and some marvellous inlays and reliefs. On the left-hand side of the façade is the monumental campanile (bell tower), which stands almost 60 m (197 ft) high and was built to house a unique object – the largest astronomical clock in the world, built in Strasbourg in 1933. At noon a number of mechanical figures move in elaborate patterns, geared by huge cogwheels.
Almost all of the impressive interior is the result of painstaking post-war reconstruction. The sculptures on the trusses in the central section of the two-aisle nave, a 15th-century basin and the 1525 statue of St John the Baptist by Gagini are all part of the original decoration. The doorways in the right-hand vestibule which lead to the Treasury are of note, as is the tomb of Archbishop Palmieri, sculpted in 1195. The magnificent organ in the transept was built after World War II, with five keyboards and 170 stops. The side aisles house many works of art, including several Gothic funerary monuments, most of which have been reconstructed.
t Its astronomical clock, embedded in the bell tower
Communications with the mainland have always been an issue for Sicily, and for over 30 years the question of building a bridge over the Straits of Messina has been debated. In 1981 the Società Stretto di Messina was set up to design a single-span suspension bridge. A multitude of problems still needs to be tackled, however, one of which is the constant danger of earthquakes.
Beyond the busy harbour area, at the very tip of the curved peninsula that protects the harbour, is Forte San Salvatore, built in the 17th century to block access to the Messina marina. On top of one of the tall towers in this impressive fort is a golden statue of the Madonna della Lettera: according to tradition, the Virgin Mary sent a letter of benediction to the inhabitants of Messina in AD 42.
On Via Garibaldi is the bustling Stazione Marittima, the boarding point for the ferries that connect Messina to Calabria on mainland Italy.
This fascinating museum near to Piazza dell’Unità d’Italia boasts a major collection of artworks salvaged after the catastrophic 1908 earthquake. In fact, most of the works come from the Civico Museo Peloritano, which was in the now destroyed Monastery of St Gregory. The museum has 12 rooms that present an overview of the artistic splendour of old Messina and include a number of famous paintings. At the entrance there are several 18th-century bronze panels depicting the Legend of the Sacred Letter. Some of the most important works include paintings from the Byzantine period and fragments from the duomo ceiling (room 1); the Gothic art in room 2; the examples of Renaissance Messina in room 3; the Polyptych that Antonello da Messina painted for the Monastery of St Gregory (room 4) and, in the same room, a Madonna and Child sculpture attributed to Francesco Laurana and a 15th-century oil on panel by an unknown Flemish artist.
Room 10 has two of the “pearls” of the museum, two masterpieces by Caravaggio, executed in 1608–1609: The Raising of Lazarus and The Nativity. This great artist’s sojourn in Messina exerted an influence on several other artists, giving rise to a local Caravaggesque school, as can be seen in the canvases by Alonso Rodriguez, St Peter & St Paul and Doubting Thomas, on view in room 7.
If you head south from Messina for about 12 km (7 miles), you will reach the villages of Mili San Marco and, higher up in the Peloritani mountains, Mili San Pietro. Not far from the latter, in an area of wild landscape characterized by the deep Forra di Mili ravine, is the Santa Maria di Mili Sanctuary. Its church has been rebuilt several times and now has a 17th-century appearance. It was founded in 1090 by Roger I as proof of his renewed faith after taking Sicily from the Arabs. The Norman king later chose it as the burial site for his son. The 16th-century marble portal is crowned by a sculpture of the Madonna and Child. Above the two-aisle nave is a finely wrought wooden ceiling that dates from 1411. Once past the three arches marking off the apse, the ceiling becomes a series of small domes, a characteristic feature of religious architecture of the Norman period.
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Drink Faro di Messina Ruby red, intense and fruity, Faro di Messina DOC is made from a mix of native grape varieties that include Nerello Mascalese, Nerello Cappuccio, Nocera and Nero d’Avola. Traditionally hand-harvested in and around the villages of Faro and Faro Superiore, it is considered to be a “niche” wine with just over 20 hectares (50 acres) dedicated to its production. Le Cassematte ⌂ Contrada Corso ∑ lecasematte.it Tenuta Rasocolmo ⌂ Strada Statale 113 ∑ tenutarasocolmo.com |