Editing Messina (section)

==History==
{{see also|Timeline of Messina}}
[[File:Augustale.jpg|thumb|left| 13th-century coins minted during the reign of [[Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor|Frederick II]].]]
[[File:Map of Messina 1.jpg|thumb|17th century map of Messina]]
[[File:Gloeden, Wilhelm von (1856-1931) - n. ... - Terremoto di Messina, 1908.jpg|thumb|left|An image of the [[1908 Messina earthquake]] aftermath. Ruins of the Duomo.]]
Founded by [[Greece|Greek]] colonists of [[Magna Graecia]] in the 8th century BC, Messina was originally called '''Zancle''' ({{langx|grc|Ζάγκλη}}), from the Greek {{lang|grc|ζάγκλον}} meaning "[[scythe]]" because of the shape of its natural harbour (though a legend attributes the name to King [[Zanclus]]). A ''[[comune]]'' of its Metropolitan City, located at the southern entrance of the [[Strait of Messina]], is to this day called 'Scaletta Zanclea'. [[Gaius Julius Solinus|Solinus]] wrote that the city of [[Metauros]] was established by people from Zancle.<ref>[https://topostext.org/work/747#8.7 Solinus, Polyhistor, 2.10]</ref>

In the early 5th century BC [[Anaxilas of Rhegium]] renamed it '''Messene''' ({{lang|grc|Μεσσήνη}}) in honour of the Greek city [[Messene]] (See also [[List of traditional Greek place names]]). Later, [[Micythus]] was the ruler of [[Rhegium]] and Zancle, and he also founded the city of [[Pyxus]].<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0060.tlg001.perseus-grc3:11.59 Diodorus Siculus, Library, § 11.59.1]</ref>
The city was [[Battle of Messene|sacked in 397 BC]] by the [[Carthage|Carthaginians]] and then reconquered by [[Dionysius I of Syracuse]].
[[File:Beaches,Messina.JPG|thumb|a tract of around 30 kilometres of [[beaches]] of Messina]]
[[File:Feluca in the strait of Messina.JPG|thumb|the ''[[Felucca]]'', a typical boat used by the fishermen of Messina to hunt [[swordfish]] ]]

In 288 BC the [[Mamertines]] seized the city by treachery, killing all the men and taking the women as their wives. The city became a base from which they ravaged the countryside, leading to a conflict with the expanding regional empire of [[Syracuse, Sicily|Syracuse]]. [[Hiero II]], tyrant of Syracuse, defeated the Mamertines near [[Mylae]] on the [[Longanus River]] and besieged Messina. [[Carthage]] assisted the Mamertines because of a [[Sicilian Wars|long-standing conflict]] with Syracuse over dominance in Sicily. When Hiero attacked a second time in 264 BC, the Mamertines petitioned the [[Roman Republic]] for an alliance, hoping for more reliable protection. Although initially reluctant to assist lest it encourage other mercenary groups to mutiny, Rome was unwilling to see Carthaginian power spread further over Sicily and encroach on Italy. Rome, therefore, entered into an alliance with the Mamertines. In 264 BC, Roman troops were deployed to Sicily, the first time a Roman army acted outside the [[Italian Peninsula]]. At the end of the [[First Punic War]] it was a free city allied with Rome. In Roman times Messina, then known as '''Messana''', had an important [[History of lighthouses|pharos]] (lighthouse). Messana was the base of [[Sextus Pompeius]], during his war against [[Caesar Augustus|Octavian]].{{fact|date=August 2022}}

After the fall of the [[Western Roman Empire]] the city was successively ruled by [[Goths]] from 476, then by the [[Byzantine Empire]] in 535, by the [[Arabs]] in 842, and in 1061 by the [[Normans|Norman]] brothers [[Robert Guiscard]] and [[Roger I of Sicily|Roger Guiscard]] (later count Roger I of Sicily). In 1189 the English King [[Richard I of England|Richard I (''"The Lionheart"'')]] stopped at Messina en route to the [[Holy Land]] for the [[Third Crusade]] and briefly occupied the city after a dispute over the dowry of his sister, who had been married to [[William the Good, King of Sicily]]. 

One of the major cities on Sicily, Messina was heavily involved in the rivalry between the Anjou dynasty in Naples and the Aragonese [[House of Barcelona]]. Initially a stronghold of Anjou support on Sicily, in 1282 the city joined the revolt of the [[Sicilian Vespers]], resulting in the city being [[Siege of Messina (1282)|subjected to a major siege]] by [[Charles I of Anjou]]. Messina remained a major naval base for the remainder of the ensuing twenty-year [[War of the Sicilian Vespers]], and was besieged a second time in 1302. In 1345 [[Orlando d'Aragona]], the illegitimate son of [[Frederick III of Sicily|Frederick II of Sicily]] was the ''[[strategos]]'' of Messina.{{fact|date=August 2022}} 

In 1347 Messina was one of the first points of entry for the [[black death]] into Western Europe. [[Genoa|Genoese]] galleys travelling from the infected city of [[Feodosia|Kaffa]] carried plague into the Messina ports. Kaffa had been infected via Asian trade routes and the [[siege of Kaffa]] from infected [[Mongol]] armies led by [[Janibeg]]; it was a departure point for many Italian merchants who fled the city to Sicily. Contemporary accounts from Messina tell of the arrival of "Death Ships" from the East, which floated to shore with all the passengers on board already dead or dying of plague. Plague-infected rats probably also came aboard these ships. The black death ravaged Messina and rapidly spread northward into mainland Italy from Sicily in the following few months.{{fact|date=August 2022}}

In 1548 [[Ignatius of Loyola|St. Ignatius]] founded there the first [[Jesuit]] college in the world, which later gave birth to the ''Studium Generale'' (the current [[University of Messina]]).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Campione |first=Giuseppe |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=95f_XdycyloC&dq=Collegio+Sant%27Ignazio+Messina&pg=PA127 |title=La composizione visiva del luogo: appunti di geografia immediata |date=2003 |publisher=Rubbettino Editore |isbn=978-88-498-0663-2 |language=it}}</ref> The Christian ships that won the [[Battle of Lepanto (1571)]] left from Messina: the [[Spain|Spanish]] author [[Miguel de Cervantes]], who took part in the battle, recovered for some time in the ''Grand Hospital''. The city reached the peak of its splendour in the early 17th century, under Spanish domination: at the time it was one of the ten greatest cities in Europe.{{fact|date=August 2022}}

In 1674 the city [[Messina revolt|rebelled against the foreign garrison]]. It managed to remain independent for some time, thanks to the help of the French king [[Louis XIV of France|Louis XIV]], but in 1678, with the [[Peace of Nijmegen]], it was reconquered by the Spaniards and sacked: the university, the senate and all the privileges of autonomy it had enjoyed since the Roman times were abolished. A [[Real Cittadella|massive fortress]] was built by the occupants and Messina decayed steadily. In 1743, 48,000 died of a second wave of [[plague (disease)|plague]] in the city.<ref>[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2630035/ "Epidemiology of the Black Death and Successive Waves of Plague"] by Samuel K Cohn JR. ''Medical History''.</ref>

In 1783 an [[1783 Calabrian earthquakes|earthquake]] devastated much of the city, and it took decades to rebuild and rekindle the cultural life of Messina. In 1847 it was one of the first cities in Italy where [[Risorgimento]] riots broke out. In 1848 it rebelled openly against the reigning [[House of Bourbon|Bourbons]], but was heavily suppressed again. Only in 1860, after the [[Battle of Milazzo (1860)|Battle of Milazzo]], the [[Garibaldi]]ne troops occupied the city. One of the main figures of the [[unification of Italy]], [[Giuseppe Mazzini]], was elected [[Italian Chamber of Deputies|deputy]] at Messina in the general elections of 1866. Another earthquake of less intensity damaged the city on 16 November 1894. The city was almost entirely destroyed by [[1908 Messina earthquake|an earthquake]] and associated [[tsunami]] on the morning of 28 December 1908, killing about 100,000 people and destroying most of the ancient architecture. The city was largely rebuilt in the following year.{{fact|date=June 2022}} However, thousands of residents displaced by the earthquake lived in shanty towns outside the city until the late 1930s, when further reconstruction finally commenced.

{{anchor|Allied air attacks}}
It incurred further damage from the massive Allied air bombardments of 1943; before and during the [[Allied invasion of Sicily]]. Messina, owing to its strategic importance as a transit point for Axis troops and supplies sent to Sicily from mainland Italy, was a prime target for the British and American air forces, which dropped some 6,500 tons of bombs in the span of a few months.<ref>[http://www.societaitalianastoriamilitare.org/COLLANA%20SISM/2014%20DONATO%20La%20Piazza%20di%20Messina%201939-1943.pdf La Piazza Marittima di Messina (1939-1943)]</ref> These raids destroyed one-third of the city, and caused 854 deaths among the population.<ref>[https://www.tempostretto.it/news/proposta-proposta-istituzione-giornata-memoria-854-messinesi-morti-sotto-bombardamenti-43.html Proposta l’istituzione di una "giornata della memoria" degli 854 messinesi morti sotto i bombardamenti del ‘43]</ref> The city was awarded a [[Gold Medal of Military Valor]] and one for Civil Valor by the Italian government in memory of the event and the subsequent effort of reconstruction.<ref>[https://www.quirinale.it/onorificenze/insigniti/18388 Presidenza della Repubblica]</ref>

In June 1955 Messina was the location of the [[Messina Conference]] of [[Western Europe]]an [[foreign minister]]s which led to the creation of the [[European Economic Community]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.eu-history.leidenuniv.nl/index.php3?m=10&c=52|title=''The Messina Declaration 1955'' final document of ''The Conference of Messina'' 1 to 3 June 1955 – birth of the European Union|publisher=Eu-history.leidenuniv.nl|access-date=5 April 2011|archive-date=3 March 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070303023539/http://www.eu-history.leidenuniv.nl/index.php3?m=10&c=52|url-status=dead}}</ref> The conference was held mainly in Messina's [[Palazzo Zanca|City Hall building]] ([[:it:Palazzo Zanca|it]]), and partly in nearby [[Taormina]].
[[File:Greek minority of Sicily flag.svg|thumb|Greek minority of Messina flag]]
The city is home to a small [[Greek language|Greek-speaking]] minority, which arrived from the [[Peloponnese]] between 1533 and 1534 when fleeing the expansion of the [[Ottoman Empire]]. They were officially recognised in 2012.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.provincia.messina.it/repository/albo-pretorio/allegati/2012/Docs3047/44-C-2012.pdf|title=Delimiting the territory of the Greek linguistic minority of Messina|access-date=2016-05-12|archive-date=2013-09-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130903123845/http://www.provincia.messina.it/repository/albo-pretorio/allegati/2012/Docs3047/44-C-2012.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>
[[File:Messina Via Garilbaldi cropped 13-3-21.jpg|thumb|Via Garibaldi, one of the main streets of Messina. After the 1908 earthquake it was widened and lengthened to the south to conform to the new urban plan]]