Messina

Messina

Messina, Greek Zankle, Latin Messana, city and port, extreme northeastern Sicily, Italy, on the lower slopes of the Peloritani Mountains, on the Strait of Messina opposite Reggio di Calabria. It was an ancient Siculan colony, first mentioned about 730 bc, founded by settlers from Chalcis, who called it Zankle (“Sickle”), from the shape of the harbour.

In the early 5th century bc it was occupied by Greek fugitives from Persian-occupied Miletus and Samos. The fugitives were assisted by Anaxilas, tyrant of Rhegium (Reggio di Calabria), who then ruled over Rhegium and Zankle, the name of which he changed to Messene in honour of his native region of Messenia in the Peloponnese. After regaining its independence, the city was destroyed by the Carthaginian Himilco in 396 bc. It was reconquered and rebuilt by the Syracusan tyrant Dionysius and was later involved in the war between the Carthaginians and the Syracusan tyrant Agathocles. It fell in 289 bc to the Mamertini, Campanian mercenaries in the service of Agathocles, who made it the centre for their domination of Sicily. Pressed by Syracuse and the Carthaginians, the Mamertini allied themselves with the Romans in 264 bc; Roman intervention led to the First Punic War, at the end of which Messene was a free city and an ally of Rome.

When the western Roman Empire fell, Messana was taken successively by the Goths, the Byzantines (ad 535), and the Arabs (842). The city suffered severe damage when the Byzantines attempted to reconquer it. Liberated in 1061 by the Norman leader Robert Guiscard (later Count Roger I of Sicily), the city prospered under the Normans as a commercial and cultural centre. The Swabian Holy Roman emperor Henry VI died there in 1197. When the Swabian dynasty ended with the death of Manfred in 1266, Messina passed to the Angevins (house of Anjou) of France and later, with the rest of Sicily, to the Aragonese and then to the Spanish Bourbons. It participated in the Risorgimento (movement for Italian political unity) risings in 1821, 1847, and 1848 and was liberated with the rest of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in 1860.

Severely damaged by an earthquake in 1783 and almost totally destroyed by another quake in 1908, Messina was rebuilt in modern style with wide streets and low, reinforced-concrete buildings. Notable surviving or restored landmarks include the cathedral and the Church of Annunciata dei Catalani, possibly of Byzantine origin, both rebuilt by the Normans in the 12th century. The National Museum houses works of art saved from the 1908 earthquake. Among numerous noteworthy modern buildings is the campanile adjacent to the cathedral. Messina has a university founded in 1548, a marine biological institute, and botanical gardens.

The contemporary city is an important port, and in 1943 it was the principal point used by the Axis Powers to reinforce its troops and supplies to counter the Allied invasion of Sicily. It is connected with the Italian mainland by ferry service (including train ferry and hydrofoil boats) across the strait to Reggio di Calabria and Villa San Giovanni; Messina also has rail service to Palermo and Syracuse. The city’s principal occupations are trade, citrus fruit industries, the manufacture of chemicals, pharmaceutical products, foodstuffs and preserves, and the operation of the port and dockyards. Its exports include fruit, wine, olive oil, chemical and pharmaceutical products, medicinal articles, and building materials. Pop. (2004 est.) 248,616.