Messina

Messina ( meh-SEE-nə, US also mih-; Italian: [mesˈsiːna] ) is a harbor city and the capital of the Metropolitan City of Messina in the autonomous island region of Sicily in Italy. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of 216,458 inhabitants in the city proper and 594,074 in the metropolitan city as of 2026. It is located near the northeast corner of Sicily, at the Strait of Messina and it is an important access terminal to the Calabria region on the mainland, namely the town of Villa San Giovanni and the city of Reggio Calabria. Founded by the Sicels with the name of Zancle in 757 BC, which in their language meant sickle, it was repopulated by Greek colonists of Magna Graecia and renamed Messana. The city was renamed Messina in the Byzantine period. It was a major Roman city that contracted under the Byzantine and Arab rule to rise sharply in importance during the Norman era. It reached the height of its prosperity between the late Middle Ages and the mid-17th century, when it competed with Palermo for the role of capital of the Kingdom of Sicily. Put to fire and sword in 1678 after a historic anti-Spanish revolt that led to the annihilation of its ruling class, it was seriously damaged by an earthquake in 1783. In 1908, another earthquake destroyed the city almost entirely, causing the death of about half the population. Rebuilding started in 1912, largely in the Liberty style, and an orderly and regular network of wide and straight streets in a north-south direction were built. Being a strategic target, the city of the strait was heavily bombed by the Allies of World War II in 1943 during the landing in...