Planning a trip to Messina

Getting there, tourism info and more

Trip-planning basics

• How long to spend in Messina: 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.
• Tourist information: The tourist office is to your right as you exit the train station, Piazza d. Repubblica 44 (tel. +39-090-672-944; www.comune.messina.it/turismo; also useful, the provincial office: www.provincia.messina.it). It's open Monday to Thursday 8am to 1:30pm and 3 to 6pm, Friday and Saturday 8am to 1:30pm.
• How to get to Messina: 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.
  
  
  • How to get to Messina by Train: There are 5 trains daily from Rome (8–9 hr.) that pass through Naples (6 hr.). Within Sicily there are 12–15 trains daily from Palermo (3–4.5 hr.); 14–16 trains daily from Cefalù (2.5–3.5 hr.); and hourly trains from Taormina (35–65 min.). Messina's stazione centrale train station (tel. 090-714-935) is handily connected to the ferry docks.
    
    How to get to Messina by Bus: There are 12 runs (5 on Sunday) from Taormina (60–105 min.); hourly from Catania (90 min.); and 6 runs (3 on Sunday) from Palermo (3 hr. 15 min). There's also an 8pm bus from Rome that arrives at 4:30am. Messina has SAIS bus offices (tel. 090-771-914) at Piazza della Repubblica no. 6 and no. 46.
    
    How to get to Messina by Car: Take the A20/SS113 east from Palermo, Cefalù, or Milazzo; the A18 north from Taormina. From the mainland, take the A3 south toward Reggio di Calabria, and get off at Villa San Giovanni for the car ferries across the strait (see above).
  • How to get to Messina by ferry: TK
• Getting around in Messina: Buses and trams in Messina are run by the ATM (tel. +39-090-903-7037, www.atmmessina.it).
• August festivals: On August 13 and 14 Messina celebrates its pagan past by parading through the city 20-foot-high effigies of i Giganti, the legedary giants Mata and Grifone who founded the city.
  
  Then the citizens do an about face to celebrate the Assumption on the 15th with another procession, this time nominally Chrtistian, with barebacked men and white-robed women straining against the ropes to pull a towering, sprawling cart of papier-mache putti, saints, and Jesus boosting the Virgin heavenward at the top.

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