Messina
Messina ( , ; ; ; ) is a harbour city and the capital city, capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of 216,918 inhabitants in the city proper and about 595,948 in the metropolitan city as of 2025. It is located near the northeast corner of Sicily, at the Strait of Messina and it is an important access terminal to Calabria region, Villa San Giovanni, Reggio Calabria on the mainland. Founded by the Sicels with the name of ''Zancle'' in 757 BC, which in Siculian, their language meant sickle, it was repopulated by Greek colonisation, Greek colonists of Magna Graecia and renamed ''Messana''. The city was renamed ''Messina'' in the Byzantine Empire, Byzantine age. It was an important Roman Empire, Roman, and then Byzantine Empire, Greek-Byzantine city, but in 843 it was completely destroyed by the Arabs. Almost abandoned during the Islamic period, it rose again i ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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1908 Messina Earthquake
A devastating earthquake occurred on 28 December 1908 in Sicily and Calabria, southern Italy with a moment magnitude of 7.1 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (''Extreme''). The epicentre was in the Strait of Messina which separates Sicily from the Italian mainland. The cities of Messina and Reggio Calabria were almost completely destroyed and between 75,000 and 82,000 people died, making it the deadliest earthquake in the history of Europe. Cause of the earthquake According to Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Vulcanology, the earthquake was caused by a large, low-angle SE-dipping, Blind thrust earthquake, blind normal fault, lying mainly offshore in the Strait of Messina, between Tectonic plates, plates. Its upper projection intersects the Earth's surface on the western, Sicilian side of the Strait. In 2019 researchers at Birkbeck, University of London discovered the active fault responsible for the earthquake. The study, led by Marco Meschis, identified the fa ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sicily
Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4.7 million inhabitants, including 1.2 million in and around the capital city of Palermo, it is both the largest and most populous island in the Mediterranean Sea. Sicily is named after the Sicels, who inhabited the eastern part of the island during the Iron Age. Sicily has a rich and unique culture in #Art and architecture, arts, Music of Sicily, music, #Literature, literature, Sicilian cuisine, cuisine, and Sicilian Baroque, architecture. Its most prominent landmark is Mount Etna, the tallest active volcano in Europe, and one of the most active in the world, currently high. The island has a typical Mediterranean climate. It is separated from Calabria by the Strait of Messina. It is one of the five Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with s ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Metropolitan City Of Messina
The Metropolitan City of Messina () is a metropolitan city in Sicily, Italy. Its capital is the city of Messina. It replaced the province of Messina and comprises Messina and 107 other ''comuni'' (: ''comune''). It has 595,948 inhabitants as of 2025. According to Eurostat in 2014, the FUA of the metropolitan area of Messina had 277,584 inhabitants. The nearby archipelago of Aeolian Islands is also administratively a part of the Metropolitan City of Messina. History It was first created by the reform of local authorities (Law 142/1990) and then established on 15 August 2015. Geography The metropolitan city borders with the Metropolitan City of Palermo (the former province of Palermo), the Metropolitan City of Catania (the former province of Catania) and the province of Enna. Part of its territory includes the Metropolitan area of the Strait of Messina, shared with Reggio Calabria. It had an area of , which amounts to 12.6 percent of total area of the island, and a to ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Strait Of Messina
The Strait of Messina (; ) is a narrow strait between the eastern tip of Sicily (Punta del Faro) and the western tip of Calabria (Punta Pezzo) in Southern Italy. It connects the Tyrrhenian Sea to the north with the Ionian Sea to the south, within the central Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean. At its narrowest point, between Torre Faro and Villa San Giovanni, it is wide. At the city of Messina, Italy, Messina, it is wide. The strait's maximum depth is about . The strait has strong tidal currents that create a Marine Life of the Straits of Messina, unique marine ecosystem. The rock in the town of Scilla, Calabria at the north of the strait and a natural whirlpool in the northern portion of the strait have been linked to the Greek legend of Scylla and Charybdis. In some circumstances, the mirage of Fata Morgana (mirage), Fata Morgana can be observed when looking at Sicily from Calabria. With its bottleneck shape, it is also a compulsory point of transit in the Migration (birds), m ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Reggio Calabria
Reggio di Calabria (; ), commonly and officially referred to as Reggio Calabria, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, is the List of cities in Italy, largest city in Calabria as well as the seat of the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria. As of 2025, it has 168,572 inhabitants and is the List of cities in Italy, twenty-first most populous city in Italy, after Modena and other Italian cities, and the List of metropolitan areas in Europe, 100th most populated city in Europe. Reggio Calabria is located near the center of the Mediterranean and is known for its climate, ethnic and cultural diversity. It is the third economic centre of mainland Southern Italy. About 511,935 people live in its metropolitan city.Reggio is located on the "toe" of the Italian Peninsula and is separated from the island of Sicily by the Strait of Messina. It is situated on the slopes of the Aspromonte, a long, craggy mountain range that runs up through the centre of the region. As a major functional pole ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Villa San Giovanni
Villa San Giovanni () is a port city and a municipality in the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria of Calabria, Italy. In 2010 its population was 13,747 with a decrease of 2.5% until 2016 and in 2020 an increase of 3.7%. It is an important terminal for access to Sicily and is also known for being the location of several police films. Geography It is situated on the coast of the Strait of Messina, directly across from the city of Messina on the other side of the narrow strait. Its port serves as the primary ferry terminal for Sicily. The municipality of Villa is home to Punta Pezzo, which marks the closest point between the Calabrian shore and the Sicilian side. This geographical advantage has made the city an ideal location for crossing the strait. Notably, Punta Pezzo features a prominent lighthouse. The city encompasses several neighborhoods, including Acciarello, Cannitello, Pezzo, and Piale. History On 28 December 1908 a powerful earthquake in the Strait of Messina kille ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Calabria
Calabria is a Regions of Italy, region in Southern Italy. It is a peninsula bordered by the region Basilicata to the north, the Ionian Sea to the east, the Strait of Messina to the southwest, which separates it from Sicily, and the Tyrrhenian Sea to the west. It has 1,832,147 residents as of 2025 across a total area of . Catanzaro is the region's capital. Calabria is the birthplace of the name of Italy, given to it by the Ancient Greeks who settled in this land starting from the 8th century BC. They established the first cities, mainly on the coast, as Greek colonisation, Greek colonies. During this period Calabria was the heart of Magna Graecia, home of key figures in history such as Pythagoras, Herodotus and Milo of Croton, Milo. In Roman times, it was part of the ''Regio III Lucania et Bruttii'', a region of Roman Italy, Augustan Italy. After the Gothic War (535–554), Gothic War, it became and remained for five centuries a Byzantine empire, Byzantine dominion, fully recove ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Federico Basile
Federico Basile (born 19 June 1977) is an Italian politician who served as mayor of Messina since 2022. Biography Basile holds a degree in economics and commerce from the University of Messina. In 2005 he obtained the qualification to the profession of chartered accountant, as well as to that of auditor. From 2013 to 2018 he was a member of the board of auditors of the University of Messina, while from 2016 to 2017 he was an expert in marketing and economy of the territory of the municipality of Montalbano Elicona. Since February 2020 he has held the dual office of president of the evaluation unit of the metropolitan city of Messina and general manager of the municipality of Messina Messina ( , ; ; ; ) is a harbour city and the capital city, capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of 216,918 inhabitants .... Mayor of Messina In 2022 he was a candidate f ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Messina Revolt
The Messina revolt of 1672–78 began with a revolt against the patrician government of Messina on the island of Sicily by skilled workers in 1672. When the patricians regained control in 1674 they turned the movement into a revolt against Spanish rule. They obtained support from the French, and Messina was independent until the end of the Franco-Dutch War of 1672–78, when the Spanish regained control. Initial revolt The city of Messina had a population of 120,000 in the mid-17th century, with the city council dominated by a few patrician families. The Spanish government granted Messina a monopoly on the export of silk in 1663, but after loud protests from other ports of Sicily withdrew it the next year. There were no immediate disturbances, but the nobility and upper bourgeoisie of the city became hostile to the Spanish. The Spanish captain-general Luis de Hojo conceived the plan of turning the common people against the upper classes through a display of charity and devotion, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Magna Graecia
Magna Graecia refers to the Greek-speaking areas of southern Italy, encompassing the modern Regions of Italy, Italian regions of Calabria, Apulia, Basilicata, Campania, and Sicily. These regions were Greek colonisation, extensively settled by Greeks beginning in the 8th century BC. Initially founded by their ''metropoleis'' (mother cities), the settlements evolved into independent and powerful Greek city-states (''poleis''). The settlers brought with them Ancient Greece, Hellenic civilization, which over time developed distinct local forms due to both their distance from Greece and the influence of the indigenous peoples of southern Italy. This interaction left a lasting imprint on Italy, including on Ancient Rome, Roman culture. The Greek settlers also influenced native groups such as the Sicels and the Oenotrians, many of whom adopted Greek culture and became Hellenization, Hellenized. In areas like architecture and urban planning, the colonies sometimes surpassed the achievem ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Allied Invasion Of Sicily
The Allied invasion of Sicily, also known as the Battle of Sicily and Operation Husky, was a major campaign of World War II in which the Allies of World War II, Allied forces invaded the island of Sicily in July 1943 and took it from the Axis powers, Axis forces (Kingdom of Italy and Nazi Germany). It began with a large Amphibious warfare, amphibious and airborne forces, airborne Military operation, operation, followed by a six-week land campaign, and initiated the Italian campaign (World War II), Italian campaign. To divert some of the Axis forces to other areas, the Allies engaged in several deception operations, the most famous and successful of which was Operation Mincemeat. Husky began on the night of 9–10 July 1943 and ended on 17 August. Strategically, Husky achieved the goals set out for it by Allied planners: the Allies drove Axis air, land and naval forces from the island, and the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean sea lanes were opened for Allied merchant ships for th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Palermo
Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old. Palermo is in the northwest of the island of Sicily, by the Gulf of Palermo in the Tyrrhenian Sea. The city was founded in Isla Palermo 734 BC by the Phoenicians as ("flower"). Palermo then became a possession of Ancient Carthage, Carthage. Two ancient Greeks, Greek ancient Greek colonization, colonies were established, known collectively as ; the Carthaginians used this name on their coins after the 5th centuryBC. As , the town became part of the Roman Republic and Roman Empire, Empire for over a thousand years. From 831 to 1072 the city was under History of Islam in south ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |