| 15th | Top universities in Italy |
| 13rd | Italy">Top railway stations: Italy |
| Messina | |||
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| — Comune — | |||
| Comune di Messina | |||
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  Messina
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| Coordinates: 38°11′N 15°33′E / 38.183°N 15.55°E | |||
| Country | Italy | ||
| Region | Sicily | ||
| Province | Messina (ME) | ||
| Government | |||
| - Mayor | Giuseppe Buzzanca | ||
| Area | |||
| - Total | 211.2 km2 (81.5 sq mi) | ||
| Elevation | 3 m (10 ft) | ||
| Population (May 2009[1]) | |||
| - Total | 243,252 | ||
| - Density | 1,151.8/km2 (2,983/sq mi) | ||
| - Demonym | Messinesi, Peloritani | ||
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | ||
| - Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | ||
| Postal code | 98100 | ||
| Dialing code | 090 | ||
| Patron saint | Madonna of the Letter | ||
| Saint day | 3 June | ||
| Website | Official website | ||
Messina 
listen (help·info) (Italian pronunciation: [mesˈsi(ː)na], Sicilian: Missina) is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, Italy, and the capital of the province of Messina. It has a population of c. 240,000 inhabitants in the city proper and about 500,000 in the metropolitan area. It is located near the North-East corner of Sicily, at the Strait of Messina, just opposite Villa San Giovanni on the mainland.
The main economical resources of the city are: the port (commercial and military), provided with several shipyards; agriculture, that includes the cultivation of lemons, oranges, mandarin oranges, olives, and wine production; tourism.
The city has been a Roman Catholic Archdiocese and Archimandrite seat since 1548 and is home to a locally important International Fair.
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Founded by Greek colonists in the 8th century BCE, Messina was originally called Zancle, from the Greek: ζάγκλον meaning "scythe" because of the shape of its natural harbour (though a legend attributes the name to King Zanclus). A comune of its province, located at the southern entrance of the Strait of Messina, is to this day called 'Scaletta Zanclea'. In the early 5th century BC, Anaxilas of Rhegium renamed it Messene in honor of the Greek city Messene (Greek: Μεσσήνη). (See also List of traditional Greek place names.) The city was sacked in 397 BC by the Carthaginians, then reconquered by Dionysius I of Syracuse.
In 288 BC the Mamertines seized the city by treachery, killing all the men and taking the women as their wives. The city became a base from which they ravaged the countryside, leading to a conflict with the expanding regional empire of Syracuse. Hiero II, tyrant of Syracuse, defeated the Mamertines near Mylae on the Longanus River and besieged Messina. Carthage assisted the Mamertines because of a long-standing conflict with Syracuse over dominance in Sicily. When Hiero attacked a second time in 264 BC, the Mamertines petitioned Rome for an alliance, hoping for more reliable protection. Although initially reluctant to assist lest it encourage other mercenary groups to mutiny, Rome was unwilling to see Carthaginian power spread further over Sicily and encroach on Italy. Rome therefore entered into an alliance with the Mamertines. In 264 BC, Roman troops were deployed to Sicily, the first time a Roman army acted outside the Italian peninsula.
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 en route to the Holy Land and briefly occupied the city after a dispute over the dowry of his sister, who had been married to William the Good, King of Sicily
Messina was most likely the harbour at which the Black Death entered Europe: the plague was brought by Genoese ships coming from Caffa in Crimea. In 1548 St. Ignatius founded there the first Jesuit College of the world, which later gave birth to the Studium Generale (the current University of Messina).
The Christian ships that won the Battle of Lepanto (1571) left from Messina: the Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes, who took part in the battle, recovered for some time in the Grand Hospital. The city reached the peak of its splendour in the early 17th century, under 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 XIV, 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 Messina decayed steadily. In 1743, 48,000 perished from plague in Messina.[2] In 1783, an earthquake devastated much of the city, and it took decades to rebuild and rekindle the cultural life of Messina.
In 1847 it was one of the first cities in Italy where Risorgimento 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 figures 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 and rational plan. Further damage was added by the massive Allied air bombardments of 1943, which caused thousands of deaths. Later, the city gained a Gold Medal for Military Valour and one for Civil Valour in memory of the event and the subsequent effort of reconstruction.
In June 1955, Messina was the location of the Messina Conference of western European foreign ministers which led to the creation of the European Economic Community[3]
Not well known to the community of railfans, Messina has a light rail system that was opened on April 3, 2003. This line is 7.7 kilometers and links the city's central station with city center and harbour. Low floor double-ended trams built by Alston Ferroviaria.
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average high °C (°F) | 14 (57) |
14 (57) |
15 (59) |
17 (63) |
21 (70) |
26 (79) |
29 (84) |
29 (84) |
27 (81) |
22 (72) |
18 (64) |
15 (59) |
21 (70) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 12 (54) |
12 (54) |
13 (55) |
15 (59) |
19 (66) |
23 (73) |
26 (79) |
27 (81) |
24 (75) |
20 (68) |
16 (61) |
13 (55) |
18 (64) |
| Average low °C (°F) | 10 (50) |
10 (50) |
11 (52) |
12 (54) |
16 (61) |
20 (68) |
23 (73) |
24 (75) |
21 (70) |
18 (64) |
14 (57) |
11 (52) |
16 (61) |
| Precipitation cm (inches) | 11 (4.3) |
10 (3.9) |
8 (3.1) |
5 (2) |
3 (1.2) |
1 (0.4) |
1 (0.4) |
2 (0.8) |
5 (2) |
10 (3.9) |
10 (3.9) |
11 (4.3) |
84 (33.1) |
| Source: Weatherbase[4] | |||||||||||||
Numerous writers set their works in Messina, including:
Messina is in the North-East of Sicily, Italy. It is only 5 km across the Straits of Messina to the region of Calabria on the mainland.
There are at least hourly ferries to Villa San Giovanni on the mainland and also several hydrofoils each day to Reggio di Calabria.
Some days, visitors arrive by cruise ships...most frequently in the summer season. Ships often berth right downtown, within an easy walk to a popular piazza, dominated by the clock tower (pictured), and which is served by many tour buses and a hop-on/hop-off double-decked bus offering a modest overview of the waterfront portion of the city.
Messina is Sicily's link to the main Italian train network. Long distance trains from Rome and Naples cross the Straits of Messina by ferry and continue on to Palermo and Catania. Regular regional trains also run to Milazzo, Cefalu, Taormina and Syracuse.
Long-distance buses stop in Messina, linking Rome and Naples to Catania and Palermo. Regular buses also run to Taormina and Milazzo (for the Aeolian Islands).
The best pizza in town is Pizza Capitano just off Piazza Cairoli. The owner is a little gruff however the wood oven gives an authentic Sicilian flavor. Its also excellent value and is always busy especially during Series A football matches when the atmosphere reaches fever pitch.
For visitors there for just a day, look for family pastry store that offer canoli...a genuine Sicilian treat.
For a taste of Irish authenticity drop into Dockers near the cruise mooring area.
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MESSINA, a city of Sicily, 7 m. S.S.W. of the promontory of Faro (anc. Promontorium Pelorum), which forms the northeastern angle of the island, the capital of the province of Messina and the seat of an archbishop. Pop. (1850), 97,074; (1881), 126,497; (1901), 1 49,77 8; (1905), 158,812. The site of the town curves round the harbour, between it and the strongly fortified hills of Antennamare, the highest point of which is 3707 ft. The straits, which take their name from the town, are here about 3 2 m. wide, and only a little over 2 m. at the promontory of Faro. The numerous earthquakes from which the city had suffered, notably that in 1783, had left it few remains of antiquity. But it was a flourishing and beautiful city when in 1908 one of the most disastrous earthquakes ever recorded destroyed it totally. The earthquake occurred early in the morning of December 28, and so far as Messina was concerned the damage was done chiefly by the shock and by the fires which broke out afterwards; the seismic wave which followed was comparatively innocuous. But it did vast damage elsewhere along the strait, notably at Reggio, Calabria, which was also totally destroyed. Many other smaller towns suffered both in Sicily and in Calabria; the loss of life was appalling and the distress widespread, in spite of the prompt assistance rendered by Italian naval and military forces and by the crews of British, Russian and German warships and other vessels, and the contribution of funds for relief works from every part of the world. The immediate seismic focus appeared to be in the straits, but Dr E. Suess pointed out that it was surrounded by a curved line of earth-fracture, following an arc drawn from a centre in the Lipari Islands, from Catanzaro to Etna, and so westward; within this arc he held that the crust of the earth is gradually sinking, and is in an unstable condition. According to an official estimate the earthquake caused the loss of 77,283 lives.' (See also Earthquake.) The facades of buildings at Messina in great part withstood the earthquake, but even when they did so the remainder of the buildings was destroyed. The cathedral, which was completely wrecked, was begun in 1098 and finished by Roger II. It had a fine Gothic façade: the interior had mosaics in the apses dating from 1330, and the nave contained 26 granite columns, said to have been brought from a temple of Poseidon near Faro, and had a fine wooden roof of 1260. The rest of the edifice was in the baroque style; the high altar (containing the supposed letter of the Virgin Mary to the people of Messina), richly decorated with marbles, lapis lazuli, &c., was begun in 1628 and completed in 1726. The importance of Messina was almost entirely due to its ' See S. Franchi, "11 Terremoto. .. a Messina.. .," in Boll. R. Comit. geologico d'Ital., 4th series, vol. x. (1909).
harbour, a circular basin open on the north only, formed by a strip of land curving round like a sickle, from which it took its original name, Zancle KAov, or rather (W'yKXov, the Sicilian equivalent of the Greek S ( ..Eiravov, l according to Thucydides, vi. 4) .
Zancle was first founded, no doubt on the site of an earlier settlement, by pirates from Cumae, and again more regularly settled, after an unknown interval, by settlers from Cumae under Perieres, and from Chalcis under Crataemenes, in the first quarter of the 8th century B.C. Mylae must have been occupied as an outpost very soon afterwards, but the first regular colony of Zancle was Himera, founded in 648 B.C. After the capture of Miletus by the Persians in 494 B.C. Skythes, king of Zancle, invited the Ionians to come and settle at KaXrt 'AKT), then in the occupation of the Sicels (the modern Marina di Caronia, 25 m. east of Cefalu); but at the invitation of Anaxilas of Regium the Samians proceeded instead to the latter place. About 488 B.C. Anaxilas and the Samians occupied Zancle in the absence of Skythes, and it was then that the name was changed to Messene, as the existence of coins of the Samian type, bearing the new name, proves. About 480, however, Anaxilas thoroughly established his authority at Messene, and the types of coinage introduced by him persevere down to about 396 B.C., 2 when Anaxilas himself zealously supported his son-in-law Terillus in inviting the Carthaginians' invasion of 480 B.C. In 426 the Athenians gained the alliance of Zancle, but soon lost it again, and failed to obtain it in 415.
Messina fell into the hands of the Carthaginians during their wars with Dionysius the elder of Syracuse (397 B.C.). The Carthaginians destroyed the city, but Dionysius recaptured and rebuilt it. During the next fifty years Messina changed masters several times, till Timoleon finally expelled the Carthaginians in 343 B.C. In the wars between Agathocles of Syracuse and Carthage, Messina took the side of the Carthaginians. After Agathocles' death, his mercenaries, the Mamertines, treacherously seized the town about 282 B.C. and held it. They came to war with Hiero II. of Syracuse and appealed for help to Rome, which was granted, and this led to a collision between Rome and Carthage, which ended in the First Punic War. Messina was almost at once taken by Rome. At the close of the war, in 241 B.C., Messina became a free and allied city (civitas foederata), and obtained Roman citizenship before the rest of Sicily, probably from Caesar himself. During the civil wars which followed the death of Caesar, Messina held with Sextus Pompeius; and in 35 B.C. it was sacked by Octavian's troops. After Octavian's proclamation as emperor he founded a colony here; and Messina continued to flourish as a trading port. In the division of the Roman empire it belonged to the emperors of the East; and in A.D. 547 Belisarius collected his fleet here before crossing into Calabria. The Saracens took the city in A.D. 831; and in 1061 it was the first permanent conquest made in Sicily by the Normans. In 1190 Richard I. of England, with his crusaders, passed six months in Messina. He quarrelled with Tancred, the last of the Hauteville dynasty, and sacked the town. In 1194 the city, with the rest of Sicily, passed to the house of Hohenstaufen under the emperor Henry VI., who died there in 1197; and after the fall of the Hohenstaufen was contended for by Peter I., king of Aragon, and Charles I., count of Anjou. At the time of the Sicilian Vespers (1282), which drove the French out of Sicily, Messina bravely defended itself against Charles of Anjou, and repulsed his attack. Peter I., through his commander Ruggiero di Loria, defeated the French off the Faro; and from 1282 to 1713 Messina remained a possession of the Spanish royal house. In 1571 the fleet fitted out by the Holy League against the Turk assembled at Messina, and in the same year its commander, Don John of Austria, celebrated a triumph in the city for his victory at Lepanto. Don John's statue stands in the Piazza dell' Annuziata. For one hundred years, thanks to the favours and 1 From this word Trapani derives its name.
z This account is at variance with the literary evidence and rests on that of the coins, as set forth by I. H. Dodd in Journal of Hellenic Studies, xxviii. (1908) 56 sqq.
the concessions of Charles V., Messina enjoyed great prosperity. But the internal quarrels between the Merli, or aristocratic faction, and the Malvezzi, or democratic faction, fomented as they were by the Spaniards, helped to ruin the city (1671-1678). The Messinians suspected the Spanish court of a desire to destroy the ancient senatorial constitution of the city, and sent to France to ask the aid of Louis XIV. in their resistance. Louis despatched a fleet into Sicilian waters, and the French occupied the city. The Spaniards replied by appealing to Holland, who sent a fleet under Ruyter into the Mediterranean. In 1676 the French admiral, Abraham Duquesne, defeated the combined fleet of Spain and Holland; but, notwithstanding this victory, the French suddenly abandoned Messina in 1678, and the Spanish occupied the town once more. The senate was suppressed, and Messina lost its privileges. This was fatal to the importance of the city. In 1743 the plague carried off 40,000 inhabitants. The city was partially destroyed by earthquake in 1783. During the revolution of 1848 against the Bourbons of Naples, Messina was bombarded for three consecutive days. In 1854 the deaths from cholera numbered about 15,000. Garibaldi landed in Sicily in 1860, and Messina was the last city in the island taken from the Bourbons and made a part of united Italy under Victor Emmanuel.
Messina was the birthplace of Dicaearchus, the historian (c. 322 B.C.); Aristocles, the Peripatetic; Euhemerus, the rationalist (c. 316 B.C.); Stefano Protonotario, Mazzeo di Ricco and Tommaso di Sasso, poets of the court of Frederick II. (A.D. 1250); and Antonello da Messina, the painter (1447-1499), of whose works one is preserved in the museum. During the 15th century the grammarian, Constantine Lascaris, taught in Messina; and Bessarion was for a time archimandrite there. (T. As.)
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Categories: MEP-MET | Italy | Southern Italy
Contents |
Messina
Wikipedia it
Messina f.
| Comune di Messina | |
|---|---|
| Country | Italy |
| Region | File:Flag of Sicily (revised).svg Sicily |
| Province | Messina (ME) |
| Mayor | Francantonio Genovese |
| Elevation | 3 m (10 ft) |
| Area | 211 km2 (81 sq mi) |
| Population (as of 1 January 2005) | |
| - Total | 247,592 |
| - Density | 1,173/km² (3,038/sq mi) |
| Time zone | CET, UTC+1 |
| Coordinates | 38°11′N 15°33′E |
| Gentilic | Messinesi, Peloritani, Mamertini |
| Dialing code | 090 |
| Postal code | 98100 |
| Frazioni | See list |
| Patron | Madonna of the Letter |
| - Day | 3 June |
| Website: www.comune.messina.it | |
Messina is a city in the region of Sicily. It is the capital of the Province of Messina. About 250,000 people live in and about 500,000 people live around Messina. This makes it the third-largest city in Sicily.
   | City website - Rete Civica - Comune di Messina |
| | Football Club website - Philchat Online - Non-nude online Video Chatting |
| | Chamber of Commerce website - CAMERA DI COMMERCIO DI MESSINA |
| | International Trade Fair website - Fiera di Messina |
| | Catholic Archdiocese of Messina-Lipari-Santa Lucia del Mela and Archimandrite of SS. Salvatore - Arcidiocesi di Messina Lipari S. Lucia del Mela |
| | Tourism Office website - www.azienturismomessina.it |
| | Theater of Messina ''Vittorio Emanuele'' - Teatro di Messina |
| | Messina port facilities - Porto di Messina -Alberghi - Vacanze - Crociere - Hotels - Messina Port -Harbours.net - Sicilian Ports and Harbours - |
| | All about sport in Messina - Homepage - Quotidiano Telematico MessinaSportiva.it |
| | Messina website - Granmirci - il sito sulla storia di Messina - |
| | Province website - Provincia Regionale di Messina |
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