The city of Messina has very ancient maritime traditions due to the port, which for centuries has influenced and improved its economic, commercial and political development. Its original greek name, Zancle, derives from the characteristic sickle shape of the harbor. In prehistoric period the port of Messina was located on a route of fundamental importance for the Mediterranean sea traffic. Messina became the main port on the island with the advent of the Romans. In these ages the city became the “Civitas foederata” of Rome, obtaining many privileges in maritime and commercial fields. The centrality and importance of Messina suffered a setback during Byzantines dominations. The Normans and Roger I in particular, brought Messina and its port back into vogue.

In 1197 the concession by Henry VI of the Free Port, which allowed the people of Messina to freely import and export all the goods handled, without paying any tax or duty. Economic activity and trade flourished for centuries, but the privileges enjoyed by Messina exacerbated relations with the other competing cities of the island and especially with Palermo, whose ruling class managed to convince the Spanish rulers to reduce the advantages and benefits enjoyed by the city and the port of Messina. The Messina Senate then drove out the Spanish Stratigò and allied itself in 1674 with the French. This alliance lasted very little and the return of the Spaniards coincided with the abolition of all the privileges and of the Free Port itself. Under the Bourbons, the city tried to recover the traffic and exchanges that had made it so flourishing in the past, trying to attract foreign merchants and entrepreneurs again. The Free Port was re-established in 1784 and after various events extended to the whole city in 1848, until it was definitively abolished in 1879. At the end of the 19th century, buildings instrumental to maritime activity such as the covered market, the general warehouses and the ferry station were built in the city. The catastrophic earthquake of 1908 and the enormous damage that the whole city suffered led to a contraction in traffic and port activities. The reconstruction of the port structure in the thirties follows the nineteenth-century arrangement. The twentieth century saw the development in the port basin of a significant shipbuilding activity and the decision to make in Messina one of naval base of the Italian Navy and the related Arsenal. With the establishment of the Mechanical Vehicle Company and the Port Warehouses, absorbed in January 1995 by Port Authority of Messina, commercial operations have received new impetus and the cruise sector has enjoyed a truly significant increase in traffic so much so that the Port of Messina has become one of the first in Sicily in this sector.

Messina is par excellence the “City of the Strait” which has always been the subject of mythological narratives and legends. The characteristic geological formation of the port of Messina is traced back to the myth of Saturn (Cronus): with a scythe he evaded his father Uranus, who got angry and threw the tool in the direction of the Strait originating that tongue of land with a particular shape of sickle. The mythical giant Orion, son of the god Neptune, on behalf of King Zanclo, adapted the sickle to a port basin. The separation of Sicily from Calabria, with the consequent formation of the Strait of Messina, is attributed to a powerful blow of the trident of the God Neptune (Poseidon). The Homeric myth of Scylla and Charybdis, the two monsters terror of sailors for millennia, justifies the dangerous eddies (including the one called “u Garofalu“, just outside the port) that affect this stretch of sea.

The myth of Fata Morgana identified by a rare optical refraction phenomenon. The legend of Colapesce, a brave sailor of the Strait of Messina, who saw under the sea the Peloro column, on which lies the northen cusp of Sicily, almost broken. Then, fearing that his Messina could collapse at any moment, he wanted to replace it and ran to support it for eternity.

With D.L. 23/10/2018 n. 119, converted by the Law 17/12/2018 n. 136, the Port Authority of Messina has been replaced by the Port System Authority of the Strait of Messina with jurisdiction over the ports of Messina, Milazzo, Tremestieri, Reggio Calabria and Villa San Giovanni