Messina

Messina is an Italian municipality that is the capital of the homonymous metropolitan city in Sicily, as well as the thirteenth Italian municipality and the third largest city in the most populous region of Italy.

It rises near the extreme northeastern tip of Sicily (Capo Peloro) on the Strait that bears its name.

Its port, a stopover for ferries to the Continent, is the first in Italy for the number of passengers in transit and the tenth for cruise traffic.

First Sicilian Greek colony, founded with the name of Zancle and then Messana, Messina reached the apex of its greatness between the late Middle Ages and the mid-seventeenth century, when it competed with Palermo for the role of Sicilian capital.

Put to fire and sword in 1678 after a historic anti-Spanish revolt that involved the annihilation of its ruling class, it was severely damaged by an earthquake in 1783.

It was besieged in 1848, during the Sicilian revolution of 1848 against Ferdinand II of Bourbon, suffering serious damage.

In 1908 a disastrous earthquake destroyed the city almost entirely, causing the death of about half of the population.

Rebuilt starting from 1912, the modern city presents itself with an orderly and regular grid with wide and straight streets in a north-south direction. Important and historic university site (the local Studiorum Universitas was founded in 1548 by Sant'Ignazio di Loyola)

Map: Messina