THE STRAITS OF MESSINA

The area around the Straits of Messina has always been the centre of myths and legends that have been handed down from generation to generation, becoming a part of popular tradition.

The Legends:

The Myth of Scilla and Cariddi Homer spoke about Scilla in the Odyssey. She was a sweet girl who was in love with Glauco, but she had been transformed by Circe into a horrible six-headed monster. This monstrous creature, who put fear into the hearts of sailors nearing the coast, created terrible storms. On the banks of Sicily lived Cariddi, transformed by Jupiter into a terrible monster because he had been found guilty of having stolen bulls from Hercules. The myths of Scilla and Cariddi were not only mentioned by Homer, but also by Dante, Virgil and Ovid.

The legend of Colapesce Colapesce was a young man who lived in symbiosis with the sea. One day, after many dives to the seabed, he found a treasure. It is said that Frederick II heard about this young man and decided to put him to the test: he asked him to dive to the depths of the sea and to tell him what Sicily stood on. The legend has it that when the young man saw that Sicily was resting on three columns but that one of them was very fragile, he decided to stay underwater for eternity to keep it in place.

The phenomenon of the Fata Morgana The Straits are characterised by the phenomenon of the Fata Morgana, which, sometimes, under certain climatic conditions, makes it appear as if the shadows thrown off by the houses and lights of Messina stretch out over the water to join those given off from the Calabrian shores, making everything seem like one immense city.