Messina
Messina (/mɛˈsiːnə/ mess-EE-nə, US also /mɪˈ-/ miss-,[4][5][6] Italian: [mesˈsiːna] ; Sicilian: Missina [mɪsˈsiːna])[a] is a harbour city and the 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 more than 218,000[7] inhabitants in the city proper and about 650,000 in the Metropolitan City. 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. According to Eurostat[8] the FUA of the metropolitan area of Messina has, in 2014, 277,584 inhabitants.
This article is about the city in Sicily, Italy. For other uses, see Messina (disambiguation). Not to be confused with Messenia, a region of Greece or Musina, South Africa also known as Messina.The city's main resources are its seaports (commercial and military shipyards), cruise tourism, commerce, and agriculture (wine production and cultivating lemons, oranges, mandarin oranges, and olives). The city has been a Roman Catholic Archdiocese and Archimandrite seat since 1548 and is home to a locally important international fair. The city has the University of Messina, founded in 1548 by Ignatius of Loyola.
Geography[edit]
Climate[edit]
Messina has a subtropical Mediterranean climate with long, hot summers with low diurnal temperature variation and consistently dry weather. In winter, Messina is rather wet and mild. Diurnals remain low and remain averaging above 10 °C (50 °F) lows even during winter. It is rather rainier than Reggio Calabria on the other side of the Messina Strait, a remarkable climatic difference for such a small distance.
Public transport[edit]
Railways[edit]
The new Messina Centrale station building was projected following the modern criteria of the futurist architect Angiolo Mazzoni, and is extended through the stations square. It is at almost contiguous with Messina Marittima station, located by the port and constituting a Ferry transport in the Strait of Messina to Villa San Giovanni station across the Strait of Messina.[21] In 2021 the harbor of Messina was the busiest passenger port in Europe with over 8.232.000 passenger crossings in one year.[22]
The station is electrified and served by regional trains. For long-distance transport it counts some InterCity and ICN night trains to Rome, linking it also with Milan, Turin, Venice, Genoa, Bologna, Florence, and other cities. It is also part of the projected Berlin–Palermo railway axis.
Since 2010, a suburban train service has been carried out along the Messina-Catania-Syracuse railway with routes serving the stations of Fiumara Gazzi, Contesse, Tremestieri, Mili Marina, Galati, Ponte Santo Stefano, Ponte Schiavo, San Paolo and Giampilieri.[23]
Bus and tram[edit]
Messina's public bus system is operated by ATM Messina:[24] starting from 8 October 2018, has reorganized the offer of public transport, introducing a bus line (line 1 - Shuttle 100) which with a frequency of approx. 15 minutes, it crosses 38 of the total 50 km of the coast of the City of Messina. Thus, a comb service is created, with interchange stops at which the buses to and from the villages terminate, and with the tram which reaches a frequency of about 20 minutes.[25] About 36 different routes reach every part of the city and also the modern Messina tramway[26] (at "Repubblica" stop, on station's square), opened in 2003. This line is 7.7 kilometres (4.8 mi) and links the city's central railway station with the city centre and harbour.
The industrial plan provides for the purchase of about 66 buses in the three-year period 2020–2022 to improve the environmental performance and comfort of the fleet. Furthermore, the resources equal to 1.82 million euros, coming from the PON Metro 2014-2020 will allow:
Numerous writers set their works in Messina, including:
