Messina, Italy

From Free net encyclopedia

 frazioni          = See list|
 telephone         = 090|
 postalcode        = 98100|
 gentilic          = Messinesi, Peloritani, Mamertini|
 saint             = Madonna of the Letter|
 day               = June 3 |
 mayor             = Francantonio Genovese|
 website           = www.comune.messina.it |

}} Messina is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, Italy and the capital of the province of Messina. It is located near the North-East corner of Sicily, at the Strait of Messina.

1 History
2 Main sights
3 Famous people born in Messina
4 Messina in literature
5 External links

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History

Founded by Greek colonists in the 8th century BC, Messina was originally called Zancle (scythe) because of the shape of its natural harbour. (The stairs leading to the harbour are to this day called 'Scaletta Zanclea'.) In the early 5th century, Anaxilas of Rhegium renamed it Messene in honor of the Greek city Messene. See also List of traditional Greek place names.

Image:Denarius Sextus Pompeius-Scilla.jpg The city was sacked in 396 BC by the Carthaginians, then reconquered by Dionysius I of Syracuse. 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).

Messina was most likely the harbor at which the Black Death entered Europe in the Middle Ages.

The city was almost entirely destroyed by an earthquake and associated tsunami on the morning of December 28, 1908, killing over 75,000 people and destroying most of the ancient architecture.

In June 1955, Messina was the location of the conference of western European foreign ministers which led to the creation of the European Economic Community. Template:ITdot

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Main sights

Template:Sect-stub Image:Messina Dome.jpg The 12th century Cathedral of Messina contains the remains of Conrad, king of Germany and Sicily in the 13th century. After the quake of 1908, the cathedral was rebuilt in 1919/1920; after a fire in 1943 it had to be rebuilt again.

In 1957 a 220kV-overhead powerline was built across the Strait of Messina. At the time of its construction, its two pylons were the highest in the world. This powerline has since been replaced by an underwater cable, but the pylons still remain, protected as historical monuments. (See Pylons of Messina.)

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Famous people born in Messina

Antonello da Messina, Italian painter and genius of the Renaissance, was born in Messina in 1430.
Francesco Maurolico, Italian astronomer and mathematician, was born in Messina in 1494.
Filippo Juvara, also spelled Filippo Juvarra, Italian architect and highest exponent of the Baroque, was born in Messina in 1678.

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Messina in literature

Many writers set their works in Messina, among them:

Giovanni Boccaccio - Decameron IV day V novel, Lisabetta da Messina - IV day IV Novel, Gerbino ed Elissa 1351
Matteo Bandello - Novelliere First Part, novel XXII 1554
William Shakespeare - Much Ado about Nothing 1598 - Antony and Cleopatra 1607
Molière Jean Baptiste Poquelin - L'Etourdi ou Les Contre-temps 1654
Friedrich Schiller - Die Braut von Messina 1803 (The Bride of Messina)
Silvio Pellico - Eufemio da Messina 1818
Friedrich Nietzsche - Idyllen aus Messina 1882 (Idylls from Messina)
Giovanni Pascoli - poetry L'Aquilone 1904
Elio Vittorini - Le donne di Messina 1949 (Women of Messina) - Conversazione in Sicilia 1941 (Conversations in Sicily)
Stefano D'Arrigo - Horcynus Orca 1975
Julien Green - Demain n'existe pas 1985