Page 262 - The Rough Guide of Sicily

d’Oro – a holy adornment designed to “dress” an icon of the Madonna and Child on

special occasions, festooned with jewellery donated by aristocrats and royalty. In a
similar decorative vein is the Stendardo banner, designed to be carried in sacred
processions and encrusted with brooches, rings, chains, necklaces and even watches.

Fontana di Orione

Piazza del Duomo

In front of the cathedral, the graceful Fontana di Orione was daintily carved in the
mid-sixteenth century by Montorsoli, a Florentine pupil of Michelangelo. The fountain
depicts Orion, the city’s mythical founder, surmounting a collection of cherubs,
nymphs and giants, and surrounded by four figures (representing the rivers Nile, Ebro,

Camaro and Tiber) reclining along the balustrade. The upper part was carefully
restored after earthquake damage in 1908.

Chiesa Annunziata dei Catalani

Via Garibaldi 111 • Usually Mon–Sat 9.30–11.30am, but often closed; call to check • 090 675 175

Just back from the Duomo, the truncated section of the twelfth-century Chiesa
Annunziata dei Catalani squats below pavement level, and is Messina’s only
surviving example of Arab/Norman church-building. The blind arcading around the
apses and the Byzantine-style cupola are the perfect antidote to the ugly cement facade

surrounding its three portals, and the interior is suitably simple, with the transept and
apse true to their original construction. In front, a martial statue by the sculptor Andrea
Calamecca (Calamech) stands half-hidden under the trees, depicting a proud Don
Giovanni of Austria, victor of the Battle of Lepanto (the victorious Christian fleet
sailed from Messina in 1535).

The harbour

Messina is one of Sicily’s major ports, and the city is at its most atmospheric down by
the harbour, with its combination of constant activity and compelling vistas over the
Straits. Sicily’s deepest natural harbour is a port of call for freighters and cruisers of
all descriptions, as well as for frequent NATO warships. But the greatest traffic
consists of ferries, endlessly plying back and forth, which are Sicily’s chief link with

the mainland.

Museo Regionale

Via della Libertà 465 • Tues–Sat 9am–7pm (last entry 6.30pm), Sun 9am–1pm (last entry 12.30pm) • €3 • 090
361 292, www.regione.sicilia.it • Tram #28 to the terminus, Annunziata, or a 45min walk along Via della Libertà;
the museum lies on the left, immediately after the Regina Margherita hospital

Messina’s Museo Regionale is a repository for some of the city’s greatest works of