Morning in Messina

July 7

Today we are in Messina on the island of Sicily, and once again I woke up with neighbors, as we are right next to a busy street. This is also a very busy port. During my 30 minute walk on the treadmill I saw nine boats of various sizes and purposes entering or exiting the harbor and many more just outside of the harbor. This morning I was scheduled to take a walking tour of Messina. While there were other people from the ship, I was the only one of our group on the tour. I met up with the tour group and our guides, Claudio and Diego, outside of the cruise terminal and we started our three hour walk. It was hot, but at least there was a bit of a breeze. The tour- provided earphones were very scratchy and it was hard to hear Claudio. The street was busy, and therefore noisy, but I soon took them off completely. I hear him explain how there was a devastating earthquake in 1908 that destroyed a lot of the city so many buildings have been reconstructed. 

In front of the Teatro Vittorio Emanuele I learned that Messina was founded in 8 B. C. Some of our group struggled with Claudio’s presentation even more than I did and they returned their headsets and radios and headed off on their own not even 30 minutes into the tour. I think it’s the history teacher in me that keeps me going. I have this need to KNOW. We stopped in front of several buildings and a beautiful fountain. Apparently many of the buildings here have Arabic influences as well as Roman and Norman French. We walked into a galleria, which I learn in Italian has a dual meaning of “tunnel” and “place of paintings”.  

We then headed to the most interesting part of our tour, which was Cathedral Square. This is where the famous tower clock stands. Claudio explained that the figures on the clock tower are symbols of the battles that the people of Messina  had with the French in 1262. The French had arrived after the people of the area had expelled the Normans. Most interesting note to me: The chariot at the bottom changes everyday depending on the day of the week.  We were there at noon for the changing of the clock. While the figures dressed in robes ring the chimes the other figures move, the rooster crows, and the lion roars. I’m not sure how much of it I recorded since it was difficult to see in such bright light, but it was really neat.

Detail of the clock showing zodiac symbols in the place of numbers.

The Messina Cathedral is dedicated to Holy Mary

The chiming serves as a warning to the people that the French are coming. As we await the two angelic emissaries to present a letter to holy Mary a church appears on one of the lower openings. Mary then gives the letter to the people of Messina. The church that appears is located on the hill where the last battle with the French was fought. The Cathedral is dedicated to the Holy Mary and was built after a monk received a vision from the Holy Mary that told him to go to the hill where the last battle against the French was fought. Some of our group ran into family members in the square and decided to leave our tour and join them for lunch, so we are now down to only ten people. We go into the cathedral which is absolutely beautiful inside. Parts of the church were reconstructed after the earthquake, but parts of it are still original. The ceiling is done in a style that is a mixture of Norman, Arabic and Byzantine.  I’m grateful for the break we have from the sun inside the church. Once we left the cathedral we proceeded about a five minute walk away to another church called the Chiesa Maria SS Annunziata dei Catalani. The inside of this church has columns made of lava stone from Mt. Aetna. Byzantine and Arabic influences are present here as well.  

Interior of the Chiesa Maria SS Annunziata dei Catalani

Exterior of the Chiesa Maria SS Annunziata dei Catalani

The final church on our tour. I can't remember the name. 

The church's ceiling shows a variety of influences from cultures
that have controlled the island in the past. 

The final stop on our tour was at Ragusa Gelataria and Pasticceria for some granita. My choice of flavor was a mixture of fragola (strawberry) and limone (lemon). It was really refreshing after a hot day in the sun. I chatted for a bit with Pat and Dave, a married couple from my ship, then I got a granita al limone to go and walked back to Cathedral  Square where I walked the  237 steps to the top to take in the 360 degree panoramic view of the city. 

Random observations: Messina is pretty, just not as pretty as Malta. It’s also very littered, just like Rome. There are a lot of buildings that are surrounded by scaffolding, and I’m not sure if it’s because of construction or restoration. 

Final observation of the walking tour: save the $30. Find a hop on hop off or a trolley tour. I chose this because I thought it would give me a more personal view of the city, but everything I saw could have been accomplished by purchasing a tourist pamphlet and walking it by myself.