MESSINA

MESSINA – Madonna in Prayer. A relief of Byzantine type (13th century). Messina, Museum, from the church of S. Filippo Neri.

In the last two centuries tragic events have severely tested the city and territory of M. The earthquake of 1783 destroyed, in addition to numerous public buildings, many ancient churches, including the old cathedral of S. Nicolò. The artistic heritage was further reduced by the earthquake of 1908, which levelled the city. The ruins, repaired after thirty years of restoration work, were again piled up by the aerial bombardment of 1943, which destroyed the Cathedral. However, reconstruction work is now in full swing.

II. CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS

From the beginning of the 15th century M. was the seat of grammar schools, entrusted to the court master Bono de Mariscalco, who gave lessons in the old church of SS. Peter and Paul of the Pisans, which collapsed in 1783.

Later, the Calabrian abbot Filippo Ruffo, a professor of Greek for many years, is found in M. Around 1460 the city was distinguished by the teaching of Constantine Lascaris.

Already in the time of Alfonso the Magnanimous, the city had officially requested the establishment of a Studium generale (1439), which was only implemented a century later by the Jesuits, called to M. by the viceroy G. de Vega (1548). With the foundation of the University and the establishment of free teaching practised by the latter, the fortunes of public education changed significantly. In 1596 the university institute passed under the direct jurisdiction of the city Senate and continued until 1676, when it was abolished as a penalty for the revolt; it was restored by Ferdinand II (1838).

Various academies were founded during the 17th and 18th centuries; among them are remembered the Accademia degli Abbarbicati (1636); the Fucina (1639); the Accademia Morale, for studies in moral theology (1700); the Accademia Ecclesiastica (1764), founded by Archbishop Di Blasi; the Accademia Peloritana (1729), which, through reforms and transformations, has continued to the present day.

Libraries: famous for its collections of Greek manuscripts was that of the Basilians, founded by the archimandrite Luca at the time of the Norman kings, dispersed in the 17th century. Today only about 300 codices remain in the University Library. The origins of the latter are connected with the bequest of Giacomo Longo (1728), later enriched by the library of the suppressed Jesuit College.

III. DISTINGUISHED MEN

Only a few are mentioned here: Luca the archimandrite, restorer of the Basilian discipline at the time of Roger II; the Carmelite St Albert (d. 1306 or 1307); the very popular figure of Bl. Eustochia (1437–91), Poor Clare, founder of the monastery of S. Maria di Montevergine. Among the scientists: Giovanni Gatto, Dominican, theologian and mathematician (d. 1484); Francesco Maurolico (1474–1575), celebrated mathematician; the humanists Stefano Tuccio (d. 1596), Jesuit, and G. A. Viperano, who became bishop of Giovinazzo (d. 1610); scholars and historians such as Antonino Amico (v.) and the Jesuit Placido Samperi (1589–1655); Fr Saverio Basile, who drew up the urban plans of M. after the earthquake of 1783; the Cassinese Benedictine B. D. Balsamo (1759–1844), superintendent of public education in the Kingdom of Sicily, and later archbishop of Monreale.

IV. ABBEYS AND MONASTERIES

First in chronological order are the Basilian monasteries, which have a separate history connected with the fortunes of the Greek rite in the territory of M. (v. BASILIANE). Of the Benedictine foundations, particular mention should be made of the priory of S. Maria Maddalena di Valle Giosafat and that of S. Maria de Latinis, as well as the women’s abbey of S. Maria de Scalise and de Alto. In 1193 the Cistercians entered the city with the foundation of S. Maria di Roccamadore; the Franciscans in 1231; the Dominicans in 1255; the Carmelites around 1235. Later also the Minims of St Francis of Paola (1507), the Capuchins (1540), the Jesuits (1548).

V. MONUMENTS

The cathedral of M. has reasserted itself as one of the greatest and most important monuments of Sicily. It is a construction of the early Middle Ages and took on its current organic form in 1092. Under the Aragonese it was further enriched with mosaics (apse and floor) and the marble decoration of the façade in a 14th-century style. Repeatedly damaged by the earthquakes of 1638 and 1783, it was almost razed to the ground in 1908, and when it had once again risen from its ruins, it suffered the very serious damage caused by the bombings in 1943, which incinerated the 14th-century apsidal mosaics. Noteworthy are the sculptures on the façade, from the 15th and 16th centuries, and the highly ornate portal inspired by Gothic forms from beyond the Alps. Another Norman monument (second half of the 12th century) is the Annunziata dei Catalani, whose decoration recalls characteristics typical of contemporary Apulian and Tuscan churches. The churches of S. Maria l’Alemanna (so called because it passed to the Teutonic Order with the annexed hospital), S. Francesco and S. Maria della Scala (Badiazza), the latter outside M., are instead from the Swabian period. The first, although mutilated, dismembered and subsequently rebuilt, remains the only 13th-century church in Sicily with completely Gothic elements; the other, S. Francesco, despite numerous rebuildings, retains its unmistakable interior features, clearly Gothic-Provençal in style; externally, in many details it shows derivation from the Norman city cathedral. The ruins of S. Maria della Scala instead suggest a style transitional from Byzantine to Romanesque. Outside M. are found: the church of the Saviour in Rometta, a key monument for the study of pre-Norman art, built between the 9th and 10th centuries. In it, modern criticism sees the final evolution of late Roman art, rather than a Byzantine monument. Of no less interest are the old Basilian churches of S. Maria di Mili, S. Pietro d’Italia, SS. Peter and Paul of Agrò, all from the Norman period, and the latter, the work of