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Messina is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, Italy and the capital of the province of Messina. It has a population of 250,000 inhabitants in the city proper and about 500,000 in the metropolitan area. more...

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It is located near the North-East corner of Sicily, at the Strait of Messina, just opposite Villa San Giovanni which is itself north of Reggio Calabria across the straits, on the mainland.

The main economical resource of the city is the port, both commercial and military, with several shipyards. Agriculture include cultivations of lemons, oranges, mandarin oranges and other fruit, vegetables and wine.

The city has been a Catholic Archdiocese seat since 1548 and is home to a locally important International Fair.

History

Founded by Greek colonists in the 8th century BC, Messina was originally called Zancle (a native word for "scythe"—but in legend the name is attributed to King Zanclus) because of the shape of its natural harbour. (The stairs leading to the harbour are to this day called 'Scaletta Zanclea'.) In the early 5th century BC, Anaxilas of Rhegium renamed it Messene in honor of the Greek city Messene. See also List of traditional Greek place names. The city was sacked in 396 BC by the Carthaginians, then reconquered by Dionysius I of Syracuse.

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. Hiero II, tyrant of Syracuse, defeated the Mamertines near Mylae on the Longanus River and besieged Messina. Carthage assisted the Mamertines because of a long-standing conflict with Syracuse over dominance in Sicily. When Hiero attacked a second time in 264 BC, the Mamertines petitioned Rome 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 pharos (lighthouse). Messana was the base of Sextus Pompeius, during his war against Octavian.

After the fall of the Roman Empire, the city was successively conquered by the Goths, then by the Byzantine Empire in 535, by the Arabs in 842, and in 1061 by the Norman brothers Robert Guiscard and Roger Guiscard (later count Roger I of Sicily). In 1189 the English King Richard I stopped at Messina in his path towards the Holy Land and briefly occupied the city after a dispute over the dowry of his sister, who had been married to William II of Sicily.

Read more at Wikipedia.org