In Depth

Not-So-Fun Facts: So You Think You've Got Bad Luck?

Aside from the fact that Shakespeare set his Much Ado About Nothing in Messina, it has rarely been blessed. Get a load of these disasters.

The Black Death, or bubonic plague, swept over Messina in 1743, killing more than 40,000 people. Forty years later, an earthquake leveled the city. Angered by Sicilian demands for independence, the Bourbon ruler Ferdinand II bombarded Messina to a pulp in 1848. Still reeling from the blows, the city was swept by a cholera epidemic in 1854. It staggered back to its feet by 1894, in time for another devastating earthquake. Messina had barely recovered when, on December 28, 1908, tremors shot through the city once again. Before the day was over, some 85,000 residents were dead. The earthquake was so violent that the coast sank 20 inches into the sea.

Under the dictatorship of Mussolini, the city was rebuilt and stood rather proudly once again. But in 1943, with Italy at war with Britain and the United States, Allied bombers were determined to knock out Messina and take Sicily as a prelude to the invasion of southern Italy. Bombs rained from the sky like raindrops falling on a roof; Messina was flattened once again.

Antonello da Messina: Hometown Artist

Born around 1430 in Messina, Antonello went on to become one of the greatest masters of the Italian Renaissance and southern Italy's leading painter. Although much of his life remains a puzzle to biographers, it is known that he was very much influenced by the Flemish school, especially by the works of Jan van Eyck. Antonello was the first of the great Italian painters to master the art of working in oil. What is also known is that after many travels across Europe, this brilliant artist returned to his home city of Messina in 1476, remaining here until his death in 1478.

Antonello's works are characterized by their sense of light and attention to detail. Many of his portraits show a three-quarter view of the sitter. His paintings show intense psychological depth and are remarkable for their breakthroughs in texture, shadow, and brilliant light.

While in Sicily, you can see masterpieces of Antonello at Messina's Museo Regionale and Cefalù's Museo Mandralisca.