Italy Messina Tours

Messina sits on the northeastern tip of Sicily, separated from mainland Italy by the Strait of Messina, a channel just over three kilometers wide at its narrowest point. Long a crossing point between Sicily and Calabria, the city has served as a maritime gateway since Greek colonists founded it as Zancle in the eighth century BC, and its harbor still handles ferries running between Sicily and the Italian mainland today.

A tour of Messina is often paired with a longer Italy Tours route through Sicily, since the city sits within easy reach of Taormina and Mount Etna. Much of central Messina looks different from other Sicilian cities because of a catastrophic earthquake in 1908, which leveled most of the historic center and forced a full rebuild.

Messina Cathedral and Its Astronomical Clock

The Duomo di Messina, originally consecrated in 1197 under Norman rule, was rebuilt after earthquakes and wartime bombing but still holds its medieval layout and mosaic apse. Its bell tower houses one of the largest and most complex astronomical and mechanical clocks in the world, installed in 1933, with moving bronze figures that reenact scenes from the city's history and mythology each day at noon.

A City Rebuilt After 1908

The 1908 earthquake and following tsunami killed tens of thousands of residents and destroyed most of Messina's older buildings, so much of what stands today dates from the early twentieth century rebuilding, with wide streets and low, earthquake-resistant construction. Two fountains by the sixteenth century sculptor Giovanni Angelo Montorsoli survived: the Fontana di Nettuno near the harbor, showing Neptune calming the strait, and the Fontana di Orione in the cathedral square, marking the city's legendary founder.

Crossing the Strait of Messina

Ferries cross between Messina and Villa San Giovanni or Reggio Calabria on the mainland in around twenty to twenty five minutes, a route used by both foot passengers and vehicles including trains loaded directly onto ferry decks. The strait itself, subject to strong and shifting currents where the Tyrrhenian and Ionian seas meet, has been the subject of a proposed bridge crossing debated in Italy for decades without construction beginning.

Day Trips to Taormina and Mount Etna

Taormina, the clifftop resort town with its Greek theater overlooking the sea and Mount Etna, lies about an hour from Messina by car or train, making it a practical day trip for travelers based in the city. The Taormina Ancient Theater Tour Sicily Historical Experience covers the second century BC theater still used for performances today, with views that stretch toward Etna's smoking summit on clear days.