Messina, the second city of Sicily, stands on the western shore of the straits of the same name, 110 miles E. by N. of Palermo and 195 SSE. of Naples. The city occupies a narrow strip of coast between the harbour and the hills behind; the opposite or eastern side of the harbour is formed by a sickle-shaped tongue of rock, that only leaves a narrow entrance on the north. Although a very ancient city, Messina possesses few antique buildings or remains. The destructive hands of enemies, and the still more destructive agency of earthquakes, are responsible for this. The greater part of the city was laid out, regularly, with handsome houses, after the earthquake of 1783. The cathedral was begun by Count Roger the Norman in 1098, but has been almost wholly rebuilt since then. This and the churches of St Gregory and St Niccolo are adorned with magnificent mosaics. The cathedral has also a gorgeous high-altar and baldacchino, and a venerated treasure in a reputed letter of the Virgin to the townsmen. The citadel was built by Charles II. of Spain in 1680, the Gonzaga Castle in 1540, and another castle in 1547-57. The handsome theatre, the palaces, and official buildings are for the most part modern. There are here a university, founded in 1549, with fifty teachers and two hundred students, a college of the fine arts, an academy of the sciences and arts, scientific collections, and technical schools. Messina is an archbishop's see. The industry is confined chiefly to muslin, linen, and silk goods, the working of coral, and the preparation of fruit essences. The harbour, which is very deep and well protected, is entered annually by some 3370 vessels of 1,277,000 tons burden, bringing imports (wheat, cottons, flour, hides, coals, dried fish, woollens, iron, &c.) to the annual value of £1,094,280. The exports, embracing principally fruits and their manufactured products, such as wine, essences, olive-oil, seeds, &c., average £1,264,720 annually. More than half the shipping is Italian, and about one-third British. Pop. (1881) of the city, 78,438, and of the commune, 126,497 (1894: 146,400).
Founded in 732 B.C. by the people of Cumæ, the place was first called Zancle (i.e. a sickle), and through the commercial enterprise of its people rapidly grew in prosperity. In 495 Anaxilas of Rhegium seized the town and changed its name to Messana (Messene). The Carthaginians conquered it and destroyed it in 396, and in 288 it fell into the hands of the Mamertines, who again changed its name to Mamertina. The intestinal quarrels of these people gave occasion to the outbreak of the Punic war between Carthage and Rome, on the conclusion of which (241 B.C.) the city became Roman, and in 535 A.D. passed to the Eastern Empire. The Saracens took the city in the 9th century, and were only expelled in the 11th century by the Normans. Here the Sicilian Vespers' massacre raged in 1282, and from that year down to 1713 Messina belonged to Spain. The people revolted in 1671 and were backed up by France, but were reduced to submission in 1678, and at the same time deprived of their privileges of self-government. Then in 1743 the plague, and forty years later an earthquake, came to complete the ruin of the city. It was, moreover, bombarded by the Neapolitans in 1848, and in 1861 it was the last place in Sicily to yield to the Sardinian (Italian) troops. The province of Messina has an area of 1246 sq. m., and a pop. (1881) of 460,924 and (1894) 518,430.