Messina was built around its harbour, which has always played a decisive role in the Mediterrenean Sea. Having been a theatre of wars and natural cataclysms, Messina has been destroyed and rebuilt several times. This bright city offers a lot of itineraries and places to visit: one of them is the Cathedral, built in 1200 and destroyed several times. It is internationally renowned for its astronomical clock, the largest in the world. There are also many Norman churches and several beautiful medieval fountains to see as well as the 16th-century forts, sophisticated Art Nouveau monuments (known in Italy as Liberty style), one of the few Italian monumental cemeteries
and much more
The Museum of Messina hosts a rich collection of portraits, sculptures and some masterpieces by Antonello da Messina and Caravaggio. Besides its historical and artistic attractions, the city of Messina offers the sea and naturalistic sites (such as the Peloritani and the artificial lake of Ganzirri) scattered all around the famous Strait connecting Sicily to the rest of Italy. This is one of the most important strategic areas in the whole Mediterranean and contributed significantly to the growth of the city.