Messina is the third largest city in Sicily, and it is known for its location on the Strait of Messina between the island and the Italian mainland. It was founded by Greek colonists in the 7th century BC with the name Zancle, which came from King Zanclus. Since then, Messina has been a free city and ruled by Romans, Goths, Byzantines and Normans, among others as well. Over time, several major events have happened here, for example, the plague is believed to have arrived here on Genoese ships as the first place in Western Europe, and in 1548 Saint Ignatius founded the world’s first Jesuit college in the city. It was from Messina that the ships of the Holy League set sail from on the way to the Battle of Lepanto in 1571. In 1783, an earthquake leveled much of the city, and virtually the entire city had to be rebuilt after a major earthquake and subsequent tsunami on 28 December 1908.

Today there are several sights in Messina. Of churches, there is the Messina Cathedral, which was built in 1919-1920 because of the earthquake in 1908. The German King Konrad IV was buried in the cathedral. He was Holy Roman King and King of Sicily as well, and the church also features a large astronomical clock that lures tourists to the bell tower every day at noon. In the square in front of the cathedral you should enjoy Giovanni Angelo Montorsoli’s fountain Fontana di Orione from 1547. The church Chiesa della Santissima Annunziata dei Catalani is also worth seeing. It has survived the natural disasters of the ages and stands in its Norman architecture of the 12th and 13th centuries. However, it was rebuilt later and now has some inspiration from Arabic building style.

It is worth visiting a museum in the city too, where the regional museum, Museo Regionale di Messina, is recommended. In the exhibition you can explore archaeological finds and works of art by Caravaggio and Antonello da Messina. Among other major public buildings, you can see the city’s town hall, located in the Palazzo Zanca mansion in Piazza Unione Europea. The mansion was built 1914-1924 in grand neoclassicism, and next to it you can see the fountain Fontana Senatoria from 1619. Finally, you can also choose to enjoy the beautiful arcade Galleria Vittorio Emanuele III, which was built in the years 1924-1929 with Galleria Umberto I in Naples as an inspiration.

Messina’s location on the Straits of Messina is beautiful, and there are interesting places along the water. Forte del Santissimo Salvatore is a fort located in Messina’s harbor entrance at the far end of the San Raineri peninsula. The fort is a well-known sight in the city, not least due to the statue Madonna della Lettera from 1934, which shows the Virgin Mary high above the city. North of Messina you can see another and somewhat newer building. Here stands a 232-meter-high steel tower, which is a pylon for former electricity cables that spanned the Strait of Messina. There is a similar pylon on the Italian mainland, and they were connected by cables from 1955 to 1994.