Messina

Messina is a harbour city and the <a href="/facts/Capital_city/aRTzKRH0">capital</a> of the Italian <a href="/facts/Metropolitan_City_of_Messina/rSuWmqBU">Metropolitan City of Messina</a>. It is the third largest city on the island of <a href="/facts/Sicily/E6fug03z">Sicily</a>, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of 216,918 inhabitants in the city proper and about 595,948 in the metropolitan city as of 2025. It is located near the northeast corner of Sicily, at the <a href="/facts/Strait_of_Messina/30mvgb0f">Strait of Messina</a> and it is an important access terminal to <a href="/facts/Calabria/n9602l3b">Calabria</a> region, <a href="/facts/Villa_San_Giovanni/cBranCNf">Villa San Giovanni</a>, <a href="/facts/Reggio_Calabria/eQIFQr0J">Reggio Calabria</a> on the mainland. 
Founded by the <a href="/facts/Sicels/3l4H6YEb">Sicels</a> with the name of Zancle in 757 BC, which in <a href="/facts/Siculian/N3vPLcSE">their language</a> meant sickle, it was repopulated by <a href="/facts/Greek_colonisation/otWspz7X">Greek colonists</a> of <a href="/facts/Magna_Graecia/XdhvdfTN">Magna Graecia</a> and renamed Messana. The city was renamed Messina in the <a href="/facts/Byzantine_Empire/njEELXWF">Byzantine age</a>. It was an important [[Roman Empire|Roman], and then <a href="/facts/Byzantine_Empire/njEELXWF">Greek-Byzantine</a> city, but in 843 it was completely destroyed by the <a href="/facts/Arabs/E77duPsg">Arabs</a>. Almost abandoned during the Islamic period, it rose again in the <a href="/facts/Normans/nUclGJWf">Norman</a> era and reached the height of its grandeur between the late <a href="/facts/Middle_Ages/RqzEKB9v">Middle Ages</a> and the mid-17th century, when it competed with <a href="/facts/Palermo/gCwkjXFg">Palermo</a> for the role of capital of the <a href="/facts/Kingdom_of_Sicily/AuymVu1X">Kingdom of Sicily</a>. 
Put to fire and sword in 1678 after a <a href="/facts/Messina_revolt/4JWxzzv6">historic anti-Spanish revolt</a> that led to the annihilation of its ruling class, it was seriously damaged by <a href="/facts/1783_Calabrian_earthquakes/49Vx4rQ7">an earthquake in 1783</a>. In 1908, <a href="/facts/1908_Messina_earthquake/Myj00hrn">another earthquake</a> destroyed the city almost entirely, causing the death of about half the population. Rebuilding started in 1912, largely in the <a href="/facts/Art_Nouveau/e2Ahfp05">Liberty style</a>, and an orderly and regular network of wide and straight streets in a north-south direction was built. Being a strategic target, the city of the strait was heavily bombed by the <a href="/facts/Allies_of_World_War_II/YzCdtjDY">Allies of World War II</a> in 1943 during the <a href="/facts/Allied_invasion_of_Sicily/nN55UqQ7">landing in Sicily</a>, being hit by about 6,500 tons of explosives in about 2,800 air raids and four naval bombardments. This event earned the city the <a href="/facts/Gold_Medal_of_Military_Valor/wVmxp5Ay">Gold Medal of Military Valor</a>.
Its port, for thousands of years has been one of the main commercial crossroads of the Mediterranean and only recently becoming a port of call for ferries to the continent, is the first in Italy in terms of number of passengers in transit. According to <a href="/facts/Eurostat/HsejrVkK">Eurostat</a> the <a href="/facts/Larger_urban_zone/qhlA2jt6">FUA</a> of the metropolitan area of Messina has, in 2014, 277,584 inhabitants. The city's main resources are its seaports (commercial and military shipyards), <a href="/facts/Cruise_ship/PzQCcICA">cruise</a> tourism, commerce, and agriculture (wine production and cultivating lemons, oranges, <a href="/facts/Mandarin_oranges/r1AVJlH1">mandarin oranges</a>, and olives). The city has been a <a href="/facts/Catholic_Church/rJ4F4gqH">Roman Catholic</a> <a href="/facts/Roman_Catholic_Archdiocese_of_Messina-Lipari-Santa_Lucia_del_Mela/FTeDFRHC">Archdiocese and Archimandrite</a> seat since 1548 and is home to a locally important international fair. The city has the <a href="/facts/University_of_Messina/IKTzhcJe">University of Messina</a>, founded in 1548 by <a href="/facts/Pope_Paul_III/fq3qarwb">Pope Paul III</a>.

Messina open-in-new

Messina