MESSINA, SICILY, ITALY (Port No. 31, 4/12/12)

MESSINA, SICILY, ITALY

∙ GEOGRAPHY 101
          ∙ Land Mass/ Continent: South Europe; Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, located off the southern coast of Italy
          ∙ About Messina: Messina is the 3rd largest city in Sicily(after Palermo and Catania), located on the northeast corner of Sicily - a narrow waterway of about 2 miles separates Sicily from mainland Italy!
          ∙ Estimated Population: 250,000 in the city of Messina and 654,520 in the province; Sicily, as a whole, has a population of 5 million
          ∙ Distance From Home (San Diego, CA): 6,651 miles
          ∙ The Water That Got Us Here: Mediterranean Sea; Ionian Sea

∙ ITS PLACE IN HISTORY/ INTERESTING FACTS
          ∙ Currency: Euro
          ∙ Official Language:  Italian - double duh!
          ∙ Local time: 
          ∙ Average full-time annual gross wages in Italy: $32,121
          ∙ Messina was founded by Greek colonists in the 8th century
          ∙ It became a free city, allied with Rome, but the Roman Empire fell
          ∙ It was then conquered by the Goths, then the Byzantine Empire, the Arabs, Normans, King Richard I (“The Lionheart”) of England, and then the Spaniards
          ∙ In 1743, 48,000 died of the plague in Messina
          ∙ In 1783, an earthquake devastated much of the city; another earthquake and tsunami in 1908 killed about 60,000
          ∙ It sustained damage again during the Allied bombings of 1943
          ∙ Messina has been a Roman Catholic Archdiocese since 1986
          ∙ Messina has a light rail system that opened in 2003

MOUNT ETNA

          ∙ Mt. Edna, located in Sicily, is 11,000 feet high and the largest active volcano in Europe
               ∙ It has erupted more than 130 times, killing more than a million people
               ∙ Last summer, there were multiple eruptions of Mt. Edna; there have already been five (5) large eruptions in 2012!
          ∙ As part of the Italian Constitution, Sicily was one of five regions given special status as an autonomous region

THE GODFATHER

"TAKE THE CANNOLI.  LEAVE THE GUN."

          ∙ The Mafia continues to run rampant in Sicily and provides many problems for the Italian government
          ∙ The main agricultural products are citrons, oranges, lemons, olives, olive oil, almonds, grapes, Sicilian pistachios and wine (it produces more wine than New Zealand, Austria and Hungary combined)
          ∙ It is not uncommon for the people of Sicily to describe themselves as “Sicilian” first and “Italian” second

SICILIAN WEARING COPPOLA

          ∙ The coppola (flat cap) is one of the main symbols of Sicilian identity
           ∙ The family is at the heart of Sicilian culture; children usually remain at home with their parents until they marry
          ∙ The Catholic Church is an important fixture in Sicilian life
          ∙ Travel video:  http://www.youtube.com/user/THEWORLDOFTRAVEL#p/search/0/cXkLS3Dis-E (Sicily) and http://www.youtube.com/user/THEWORLDOFTRAVEL#p/search/0/wCUrtwRcQd0 (Taormina)

∙ CLIMATE
          ∙ Average low for April: 54
          ∙ Average high for April: 63

∙ HIGHLIGHTS/THINGS TO SEE
          ∙ Churches and sanctuaries, fountains, the Regional Museum, castles and architecture such as the Porta Grazia

SICILIAN ARCHITECTURE

          ∙ The most notable sites in Sicily are in other parts of the region:
                ∙ The Rocky Necropolis of Pantalica: over 5,000 tombs dating from 13th to the 7th centuries BC – in southeast Sicily; a UNESCO World Heritage Site

VALLEY OF THE TEMPLES

              ∙ The Valley of the Temples: an ancient Greek archaeological site in Agrigento; one of the great attractions of Sicily and a national monument of Italy; a UNESCO World Heritage Site
              ∙ Selinunte: another ancient Greek archaeological site at Selinunte, off the south coast of Sicily

GREEK TEMPLE AT SELINUNTE