Messina, Italy

An image of the refugees from the 1908 earthquake.

Cathedral of Messina (2004).

Church of the Annunziata dei Catalani.

One of the Four Fountains.

View on the port of Messina with Calabria on the background.

Messina is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, Italy and the capital of the province of Messina. It has a population of 250.000 inhabitants in the city proper and almost 500,000 in the metropolitan area.

It is located near the North-East corner of Sicily, at the Strait of Messina, just in front to Villa San Giovanni and north to Reggio Calabria.

The main economical resource of the city is the port, both commercial and military, with several shipyards. Agriculture include cultivations of lemons, oranges, mandarin oranges and other fruit, vegetables and wine.

The city is a Catholic archdiocese seat from 1548 and is home to an important International Fair.

History

Founded by Greek colonists in the 8th century BCE, Messina was originally called Zancle (scythe) because of the shape of its natural harbour. (The stairs leading to the harbour are to this day called 'Scaletta Zanclea'.) In the early 5th century, Anaxilas of Rhegium renamed it Messene in honor of the Greek city Messene. See also List of traditional Greek place names.

Sextus Pompeius coin, depicting the Pharos of Messina and Scylla.

The city was sacked in 396 BCE by the Carthaginians, then reconquered by Dionysius I of Syracuse. At the end of the first Punic War it was a free city allied with Rome. In Roman times Messina, then known as Messana, had an important pharos (lighthouse). Messana was the base of Sextus Pompeius, during his war against Octavian.

After the fall of the Roman Empire, the city was successively conquered by the Goths, then by the Byzantine Empire in 535, by the Arabs in 842, and in 1061 by the Norman brothers Robert Guiscard and Roger Guiscard (later count Roger I of Sicily). In 1189 the English King Richard I stopped at Messina in his path towards the Holy Land, and occupied briefly the city after a dispute of the dowry of his sister, who had been married to William II of Sicily.

Messina was most likely the harbor at which the Black Death entered Europe in the Middle Ages (1347): the plague was brought by Genoese ships coming from Jaffa in Palestine. In 1548 St. Ignatius founded here the first Jesuite College of the world, which later gave birth to the Studium Generale (the current University of Messina).

The Christan ships that won the Battle of Lepanto (1571) left from Messina: the Spanish author Cervantes, who took part to the battle, was recovered for some time in the Grand Hospital. The city reached the peak of its splendour in the early 17th century, under the Spanish domination: at the time it was one of the ten greatest cities in Europe. In 1674 the city rebelled against the foreign garrison. It managed to remain independent for some time, thanks to the help of the French king Louis XII, but in 1678, with the Peace of Nijmegen, it was reconquered by the Spaniards and sacked: the University, the Senate and all the privileges of autonomy it had enjoyed since the Roman times were abolished. A massive fortress was built by the occupants, and thenceforth Messina decayed steadily.

In 1847 it was one of the first cities in Italy where Unitarian riots broke out. In 1848 it rebelled openly against the reigning Bourbons, but was heavily suppressed again. Only in 1860 , after the Battle of Milazzo, the Garibaldine troops freed the city. One of the main figure of the unification of Italy, Giuseppe Mazzini, was elected deputy at Messina in the general elections of 1866.

The city was almost entirely destroyed by an earthquake and associated tsunami on the morning of December 28, 1908, killing about 60,000 people and destroying most of the ancient architecture. The city was largely rebuilt in the following year, according to a more modern ad rationale plan. Further damage was added by the massive American air bombardments of 1943, which caused thousand of deaths. Later, the city gained a Gold Medal for Military Valour and one for the Civil Valour in memory of the event and the subsequent effort of reconstruction.

In June 1955, Messina was the location of the conference of western European foreign ministers which led to the creation of the European Economic Community.

Main sights

Religious buildings

*The 12th century Cathedral contains the remains of Conrad, king of Germany and Sicily in the 13th century. After the quake of 1908, the cathedral was almost entirely rebuilt in 1919/1920; after a fire in 1943 it had to be rebuilt again. The original Norman structure can be seen in the apsidal area. The façade has three late Gothic portals, the central one probably dating from the early 15th century, with noteworthy decorations. The architrave is decorated with a sculpture of Christ Among the Evangelists and representations of human figures, animals and plants. The tympanum is from 1468. The interior has a nave and two equally long aisles divided by files of 28 columns; some of the decorative elements are from the original edifice. Beside of that of Conrad IV, the tombs include those of Archbishop Palmer (died in 1195), Archbishop Guidotto de Tabiatis (14th century)and Antonio La Lignamine (16th century). The mosaics in the apse are reconstructions. Noteworthy is the Chapel of the Sacrament (late 16th century), with scenographic decorations and 14th century mosaics.
*The Annunziata dei Catalani (late 12th-13th century). Dating from the late Norman period, it was transformed in the 13th century when the nave was shortened and the façade added. It has a cylindrical apse and a high dome emerging from a high tambour. Noteworthy is the external decoration of the transept and the dome area, with a series of blind arches separated by small columns.
*Santa Maria degli Alemanni (probably from the early 13th century), which belonged to the Knights of Malta.
*Sanctuary of Montevergine

Other

*Palazzo Calapaj, near the Duomo, an example of 18th century Messinese architecture which survived to the 1908 earthquake.
*The Fountain of Orion and the Fountain of Neptune, by Giovanni Angelo Montorsoli (16th century).
*Senatory Fountain (1619)
*The Four Fountains
*The San Ranieri Lighthouse (or Tower), from 1555.

In 1957 a 220kV-overhead powerline was built across the Strait of Messina. At the time of its construction, its two pylons were the highest in the world. This powerline has since been replaced by an underwater cable, but the pylons still remain, protected as historical monuments. (See Pylons of Messina.)

Famous people born in Messina

*Antonello da Messina, Italian painter and genius of the Renaissance, was born in Messina in 1430.
*Francesco Maurolico, Italian astronomer and mathematician, was born in Messina in 1494.
*Filippo Juvara, also spelled Filippo Juvarra, Italian architect and highest exponent of the Baroque, was born in Messina in 1678.

Messina in literature

Many writers set their works in Messina, among them:
*Giovanni Boccaccio - Decameron IV day V novel, Lisabetta da Messina - IV day IV Novel, Gerbino ed Elissa (1351)
*Matteo Bandello - Novelliere First Part, novel XXII (1554)
*William Shakespeare - Much Ado about Nothing (1598 and Antony and Cleopatra (1607)
*Molière Jean Baptiste Poquelin - L'Etourdi ou Les Contre-temps (1654)
*Friedrich Schiller - Die Braut von Messina (The Bride of Messina, 1803)
*Silvio Pellico - Eufemio da Messina (1818)
*Friedrich Nietzsche - Idyllen aus Messina (Idylls from Messina, 1882)
*Giovanni Pascoli - poetry L'Aquilone (1904)
*Elio Vittorini - Le donne di Messina (Women of Messina', 1949 ) and Conversazione in Sicilia (Conversations in Sicily, 1941)
*Stefano D'Arrigo - Horcynus Orca (1975)
*Julien Green - Demain n'existe pas'' (1985)

Messina, Italy: Encyclopedia BETA

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