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You'll probably be the only non-regular at Trattoria Al Padrino, a single, noisy, packed room where waiters bellow your order across the glass case piled high with fresh fish to the open kitchen beyond. I asked if they had a menu, and the waiter smiled his Italian reply "We are the menu." The food is ultra genuine, from the antipasto of stuffed eggplant rolls, zucchini, and mozzarella-infused potato croquettes to primi like their excellent maccheroni (fat ropes of handmade pasta in a tomato sauce topped with strips of grilled eggplant and toasted ricotta). Messina is renowned for its involtini di spada (breaded swordfish rolls), and Al Padrino prepares some of the cheapest, most scrumptious in town.
Via S. Cecilia 54 (just below Via G. La Farina). tel. +39-090-929-1000. Closed Sun.
Messina tourist information office:
Piazza della Repubblica 44
tel. +39-090-672-944
www.comune.messina.it/turismo
www.provincia.messina.it
The tourist office is to your right as you exit the train station. It's open Monday to Thursday 8am to 1:30pm and 3 to 6pm, Friday and Saturday 8am to 1:30pm.
Honestly, Messina is not a place to linger. Nothing wrong with it, but Sicily has so many far more interesting palces to offer. However, there are a few sights with which you can kill 2–3 hours of time if you're stuck waiting for a transportation connection.
Messina is in the very northeast corner of Sicily, just across the Straits of Messina from Reggio di Calabria —the city at the tip of mainland Italy's "toe."
Messina is 237km (142 miles) east of Palermo, 469km (281 miles) south of Naples, and 683km (410 miles) southeast of Rome. Within Sicily, Messina is 165km (102 miles) east of Cefalù, 97km (60 miles) north of Catania, and 235km (146 miles) east of Palermo.
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Messina tourist information office:
Piazza della Repubblica 44
tel. +39-090-672-944
www.comune.messina.it/turismo
www.provincia.messina.it
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