The RUINS of SANTA MARIA ALEMANNA
The church of Santa Maria Assunta features a dome made
of majolica tiles as well as a 13th Byzantine century
icon of a black Madonna. According to local legend, the
icon had been stolen from Byzantium and was being
transported by pirates across the Mediterranean. A
terrible storm had blown up in the waters opposite
Positano and the frightened sailors heard a voice on
board saying "Posa, posa!" ("Put down! Put down!"). The
precious icon was unloaded and carried to the fishing
village and the storm abated.
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Positano was a port of the
Amalfi Republic in medieval times, and prospered in the 16th and 17th
centuries. But by the mid-19th century, the town had fallen on hard times.
More than half the population emigrated, mostly to Australia.
Positano was a relatively poor fishing village during the first half of the
20th century. It began to attract large numbers of tourists in the 1950s.
In the morning we walked down to the little museum they have
(approximately 1.5 miles from where the ship docked) and than back to the
Duomo to see the astronomical clock in the bell tower at noon. We took an
afternoon ships tour to Taormina to see the Amphitheatre.
It took about an hour to get back to the ship, and we arrived at about
4:05pm
62.5 euros per person.
bus to Taormina about 1 1/2 hours.
Interbus is the name of the bus company. Get to the terminal early so you can spend more time at Taormina. The bus will take up to the town, the train will not. Roundtrip cost us about 5.5 euros per person. If you decide you can take a bus down to the train station(same fare) and come back on the train.
The drive from Messina to Mt. Etna is about an hour, and the bus drives along the coast, passing by many lemon trees, before starting the long, winding climb to the visitors' center on Mt. Etna.
. But, as is typical in most of Italy, almost all these shops close by 2 for their afternoon "Siesta."
There is a beautiful museum with works of Caravaggio and Antonello da Messina. There are a lot of historic churches, like the Duomo, the Montalto church, the Cristo Re Sanctuary and Santa Maria Alemanna church.
or a show unlike any you've seen before, check out the world's largest astronomical clock, Orologio Astronomico, in the Piazza del Duomo. It's set in a 197-foot bell tower and when the clock strikes noon, it comes to life. As Ave Maria begins playing from a loudspeaker, the bronze mechanical figures start to move. A lion roars, a bird flaps its wings, and two historical heroines take turns ringing the bell, all before it ends with a statue of Jesus appearing from a tomb
ke a walk through the Duomo, the town's main cathedral in the Piazza del Duomo. Although most of it has been refurbished in recent years, it has retained some of the original Norman-style features from 1160, when it was built by the Holy Roman emperor Henry VI
ake a wish in the Fontana di Orione in the center of the piazza. The pre-baroque-style fountain was built to commemorate Messina's aqueduct and symbolizes the four rivers, Tiber, Nile, Ebore and Camaro.
pend some time in the Museo Regionale. Here you'll find an amazing collection of art rescued from the 1908 earthquake, including pieces dating back to the 13th century.
or a taste of traditional Sicilian cuisine, look for eggplant caponata - a stew of tomatoes, eggplant, capers and olives - typically served in restaurants as an antipasto. Rice balls, or arancini di riso, are also very common and can be found in many restaurants and at sidewalk stands. For dessert, try a slice of Sicilian cassata cake, a square sponge cake covered with ricotta cheese frosting, maraschino liqueur, candied fruit and nuts
he Euro (EUR), the currency of the European Union, is the official currency of Italy. Many stores and restaurants also accept major credit cards, which usually offer you a good exchange rate. When shopping, remember there is a Value-Added Tax added to most purchases
Mt. Etna is high enough to have skiing in the winter, and the lava flows and volcanic sites are quite interesting. The visitors' center also has a hotel, a couple of restaurants, and a few souvenir shops.
A few cruise ship passengers managed to fit in time for one of Messina's famous canolis, which were excellent.
Today, Messina struggles because it lacks that connection to the past that draws visitors to other Italian cities. The town tries to be tourist-friendly. In fact, the tourism office here is one of the best in all of Italy. However, smiling faces can only do so much, as
Cruise ships dock at the Autorita Portuale di Messina in Messina, on Sicily's northwest coast. There is easy access to the rest of the city from the port.
Trains travel twenty-six times a day from Messina to Taormina. In Messina itself, four bus companies run overlapping routes. They are all similar in quality, and they all stop at all major tourist attractions in Messina. Taxis (090/51-513, 090/650-5111) usually congregate near the Duomo. Ferries and hydrofoils travel to nearby Reggio.
The Fontana di Orione is another example of Messina's bad luck. The fountain was supposed to be constructed by the great Michelangelo, but he begged off for no apparent reason, sending a student of his, Angelo Montorsoli, to build it in his place. The lone art gallery in town is the Museo Regionale (Viale della Libertà 465, 090/361-292), which houses all of the artwork gathered from five smaller collections in the early 1800s.
Messina pales in comparison to Taormina, Sicily's most beautiful resort town, located twenty-seven miles to the south. In Taormina, natural beauty and a festive climate surround you. One of Sicily's best beaches is located in Taormina. Lido Mazzaro is swamped during the busy summer season. To reach Lido Mazzaro, pick up a cable car just south of town from Via Pirandello. Don't fret if you miss one, as they run four times an hour. The beach itself is teeming with activity, with hotels, restaurants, bars, and water sports equipment available.
Fontana di Orione
Standing in the center of the cathedral square, this elegant fountain was the pre-baroque creation of Gioovanni Angelo Montorsoli in 1547. It honors Orion, the city's mythical founder, who is seen surmounting a bevy of giants, nymphs and crocodile--wrestling putti. The fountain was built to honor the construction of the city's first aqueduct. The major figures represent the rivers, Nile, Ebro, Camaro, and Tiber.
Plan a short sightseeing walking tour of Messina which includes points of interest such as those illustrated on the map. For sure, the Cathedral with its astronomic clock, the Churches Maria Alemanna and Catalani and the fountains.
Via Garbaldi, runs parallel to the sea and is the main street. It goes through Piazza del Duomo, the town's major square. South of this square is the second most important square in Messina. Piazza Carducci.
5 Monte di Pietà 6 Madonnina del Porto 7 Shrine of Cristo Re 8 R.R.Station 9 Fontana di Orione
The Cathedral Treasure
The highlight of the Cathedral treasure is the "Cloak of gold"
weighing twenty pounds and made by the Florentine Innocenzo Mangani in 1668.
Decorated with a large quantity of precious stones and jewels, it is
used to cover the picture of the Madonna della Lettera on the Cathedral's
high altar.
The treasure also includes precious furnishings, sacred vestments and
ancient reliquaries in precious materials.
THE MONTE DI PIETA'
The ruins of the church of the Pietà and its spectacular staircase, are found on what is now Via XXIV Maggio, but which was originally via del Duomo.
The complex is today missing many of it original parts: the first floor, the bell tower and most of the church, (except for a section on the facade). The massive building dates back to 1616.
The institution was run by the religious brotherhood of the "Azzurri"
In the 18th century, extensive renovation work was carried out, involving the reconstruction of the first floor, the adjacent bell tower and staircase. At the centre of the staircase, the fountain representing Abundance, was designed by Ignazio Buceti, and bears the date of 1741.
SANTA MARIA DELLA VALLE, (the "BADIAZZA")
The ruins of the antique church and convent
of Santa Maria della Valle, commonly known as "Badiazza," forms one the
most antique and interesting monuments of the Medieval Messina.
It is situated near the bottom of the San Rizzo stream and is reached by a rough road through the Peloritani mountains, and the village Scala, by finding your way upstream in a pebbly riverbed. It belonged to a Benedictine monastery founded in the XIIth century. After a devastation fire in 1282, it was restored.
The "Badiazza"
Shrine of Cristo Re
The old bell-tower, damaged in the earthquake of 1783, was demolished soon afterwards. The present tower, designed by Valenti, imitates the forms of its predecessor. It was built after 1908, and in 1933 became home to the largest animated clock in the world.
Animated Clock Figures
The machinery is made up of partial devices with gears and levers, it gets its kinetic energy from a powerful counterweight mechanism of clockwork, set in the central storey of the building. It is this central mechanism that sets in motion the pointers of the dials, starts the sound of quarters and hours, and the movements of the various pictures passing within the span of the 24 hours, along with the sound effects-- as each figure passes the starting signal on to the following one.
In the belfry there is a peal of eight bells which every day at the end of the midday movements.
The Santa Maria Alemanna Church dates back to the second half of the 13th century and was founded, together with an adjacent hospital, by the Teutonic Knights, thus explaining the name "Alemanna", by which it is still known.
The knights set up their priory here and used the hospital to receive and tend veterans from the Holy Land. Only a small trace of the ancient hospital remains, in the form of a lancer arch and a fragment of wall near the apses of the church. The church itself, abandoned by the knights at the end of the 14th century, was struck by lightning at the beginning of the 17th century, and was further damaged in the earthquake of 1783, which caused the facade to collapse.
Today it is under restoration. The regional museum contains a fine doorway from this church which is the purest example of Gothic architecture in Sicily.
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ANNUNZIATA DEI CATALANI
The church of the "Annunziata dei Catalani" stands on one of the most historically important sites of the Straits. The church was built between 1150 and 1200 on the remains of a pagan temple dedicated to Neptune. When the Messinese saw their beloved church on this square after the 1908 earthquake, they called it a miracle. In an amazing feat, the earthquake stripped away much of the latter-day alterations and additions to the church leaving its original 12th- and 13th- century architectural style intact. But because the quake leveled the earth on which the church sits, the structure seems to be sinking into the street today.
The great difference in height between the ground level of the church and that of the surrounding streets and buildings is due to the piles of rubble caused by the earthquake of 1908, which were later leveled for reconstruction.
THE
CATHEDRAL
The church was originally built in Norman times, but in 1197, was it dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Nothing of the Norman construction remains today except the general layout and the overall exterior appearance after the 1908 earthquake, and a 1943 Allied firebomb that didn't help. The architect Valenti reconstructed it on the basis of ancient documents. The statue of Madonna and Child, in the lunette of the doorway, is from 1534, and is the work of Giovambattista Mazzeo.
The 16th century saw radical intervention also inside the building: Montorsoli designed a marble inlay floor and the arrangement, along the walls of the side naves, representing the Apostolate.
The altar, designed by Simone Gulli, was begun in 1628 and finished at the end of the 18th century.
In 1930, the Cathedral became home to what is the largest organ in Italy and the third largest in Europe: 5 keyboards, 170 stops, 16000 pipes arranged in both sides of the transept, behind the altar, above the main portal and above the triumphal arch.
CATHEDRAL INTERIOR
