Editing Milazzo (section)

==History==
[[File:Baia del Tono (Milazzo) 18 98 2019.jpg|thumb|left|''Baia del Tono]]
[[File:Riviera di Ponente (Milazzo) 21 10 2020 05.jpg|thumb|left|''Riviera di Ponente]]
Several civilizations settled in Milazzo and left signs of their presence from the Neolithic age. In Homer's ''Odyssey'' Milazzo is presumably the place where Ulysses is shipwrecked and meets [[Polyphemus]].

Historically, the town originated as the ancient Greek ''Mylae'' ({{langx|grc|Μύλαι}}) in [[Magna Graecia]],<ref>{{Barrington|47, notes}})</ref> an outpost of [[Zancle]], occupied before 648 BC, perhaps as early as 716 BC.<ref>E. A. Freeman, ''History of Sicily'', I., pp. 395, 587</ref><ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.perseus-grc1:3.90 Thucydides, Peloponnesian War, §3.90]</ref>
It was taken by the Athenians in 426 BC. The people of [[Reggio Calabria|Rhegium]] planted the exiles from [[Naxos]] and [[Catana]] in 395 BC as a counterpoise to [[Dionysius the Elder]]'s foundation of [[Tyndaris]]; but Dionysius soon took it. In the bay [[Gaius Duilius]] won [[battle of Mylae|the first Roman naval victory]] over the [[Carthage|Carthaginians]] (260 BC).

In 36 BC the naval [[Battle of Mylae]] was fought offshore.  The fleet of [[Octavian]], commanded by [[Marcus Agrippa]], engaged that of [[Sextus Pompey]].  While the battle was nearly a draw, Sextus could not replace his losses, and was thus weaker at the following [[Battle of Naulochus]] (36 BC), where he was utterly defeated.<ref>Dio 49.1–18</ref>

After the fall of the [[Western Roman Empire]], under the [[Byzantine]]s, the town became one of the first episcopal seats of Sicily. In the 9th century Milazzo was conquered by the Arabs, who built the first nucleus of the castle here.
[[Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor|Frederick II of Hohenstaufen]] further fortified the town and created a personal hunting park. The castle was later mostly rebuilt in the age of [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V of Spain]].

Milazzo was also the seat of [[Battle of Milazzo (1718)|a battle in 1718]] between Spain and Austria, and of [[Battle of Milazzo (1860)|another fought]] by [[Giuseppe Garibaldi]] against the [[Kingdom of Two Sicilies]] during his [[Expedition of the Thousand]].

[[Pope Leo XIV]]'s paternal grandfather, John Prevost (né Salvatore Giovanni Riggitano Alioto) was born in Milazzo, on 24 June 1876.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-blog/entertainment-and-culture/pope-leo-xiv-sicilian-roots|title=Ancestry Discovers Pope Leo XIV’s Sicilian Roots|website=Ancestry.com|date=15 May 2025|access-date=16 May 2025}}</ref>