Messina, Sicily, Italy

🇮🇹 Messina is the capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy. It is located near the north-east corner of Sicily, at the Strait of Messina and it is an important access terminal to Calabria region, Villa San Giovanni, Reggio Calabria on the mainland.

The city's main resources are its seaports (commercial and military shipyards), cruise tourism, commerce, and agriculture (wine production and cultivating lemons, oranges, mandarin oranges, and olives). The city has been a Roman Catholic Archdiocese and Archimandrite seat since 1548 and is home to a locally important international fair. The city is home to the University of Messina, founded in 1548 by Ignatius of Loyola.

Civil and military architecture • The Botanical Garden Pietro Castelli of the University of Messina. • The Palazzo Calapaj-d'Alcontresj, an example of 18th-century Messinese architecture which is one of the few noble palazzi to have survived the 1908 earthquake. • The Forte del Santissimo Salvatore, a 16th-century fort in the Port of Messina. • The Forte Gonzaga, a 16th-century fort overlooking Messina. • The Porta Grazia, 17th-century gate of the "Real Cittadella di Messina", by Domenico Biundo and Antonio Amato, a fortress still existing in the harbour. • The Pylon, built in 1957 together with a twin located across the Strait of Messina, to carry a 220 kV overhead power line bringing electric power to the island. At the time of their construction, the two electric pylons were the highest in the world. The power line has since been replaced by an underwater cable, but the pylon still stands as a freely accessible tourist attraction. • The San Ranieri lighthouse, built in 1555. • The Palazzo della Provincia (Palazzo dei Leoni), provincial Seat, built in 1914 by Alessandro Giunta. • The Palace of Culture, built in 2009.

Monuments • The Fountain of Orion, a monumental civic sculpture located next to the cathedral, built in 1547 by Giovanni Angelo Montorsoli, student of Michelangelo, with a Neoplatonic-alchemical program. It was considered by art historian Bernard Berenson "the most beautiful fountain of the sixteenth century in Europe". • The Fountain of Neptune, looking towards the harbour, built by Montorsoli in 1557. • The monument to John of Austria, by Andrea Camalech (1572) • The Senatory Fountain, built in 1619. • The Four Fountains, though only two elements of the four-cornered complex survive today. • LaFenice, a sculpture on Piazza della Memoria

One of the two surviving Four Fountains dating from the 17-18th centuries. Located on the corner of Via 1 Settembre and Via Cardines

Museums • Museo Regionale di Messina (MuMe) hosting notable paintings by Caravaggio, Antonello da Messina, Alonzo Rodriguez, Mattia Preti • The Galleria d'Arte Contemporanea di Messina, hostings paintings by Giò Pomodoro, Renato Guttuso, Lucio Fontana, Corrado Cagli, Giuseppe Migneco, Max Liebermann.