Il Gabbiano Hotel Beach Club

Santa maria Annunziata dei...

by LysDor

Santa maria Annunziata dei Catalani


I tryed to visit this church but found a building which was all packed-up for restauration I suppose!
Therefore, the picture is a courtesy of arsnet/Italy.

This church is one of the most precious treasures of Messina. Built in the second half of the twelfth century

It is a very elegant example of successful blending of styles - Bizantine, Romanesque, Arab and Norman.

be prepared

by chrissyalex

Be prepared. The weather is different on top of the volcano. It was a hot,sunny ,clear day at the bottom of Mt Etna....at least 40 c, when we visited .As we made are way towards the top, it became much cooler and quite cloudy. I am guessing about 17c. If it is spring or autumn when you visit, I would definately bring a jacket.....even if it is warm at the bottom. Bring comfortable shoes if you want to climb the craters. I would make sure to use flash and bring at least 400 speed flim. It is cloudy up there.

Buy and Bring as souvenir one...

by isolina_it

Buy and Bring as souvenir one of the typical 'Pupi'!
The opera dei pupi is the traditional Sicilian marionette theatre.The Sicilian puppets differ from other marionettes in the plays presented, in their technique, their figurative style, their décor and their speech. Their subjects are mainly long cycles, vicissitudes presented in installments based on epic-chivalrous literature and particularly on the Carolingian cycle.
The programs of the opera dei pupi are often concerned with deeds of Charlemagne, his ancestors and his descendants. However, the repertory of the puppeteers also includes other stories of chivalry, historical events such as Roger the Norman Conquers Sicily, The Sicilian Vespers, The Story of Victor Emanuel and Garibaldi and a number of Shakespearean subjects such as Romeo and Juliet, Othello and Macbeth. It also features tales of bandits, which include: Antonio Di Blasi Known As Testalonga, Giuseppina the Brigandess, Marziale the Murderous Brigand. Sometimes programs also include representations of the Passion and the Nativity.
The Success of the opera dei pupi was linked in the past with its natural audience, namely the population of the poorer quarters of the city and of the villages, who followed the plot by installments every evening for months and months. The Theatres of the opera dei pupi were generally set up in warehouses or stables with roofs supported by arches or sometimes in wooden huts. The spectators sat on rough wooden benches, fastened to the ground on police orders. The seats in the front row were reserved for children and the walls were, and are, decorated with posters. While the public comes flocking to the box-office, where the owner's wife generally sat and still does, a barrel-organ plays while chick peas, toasted pumpkin seeds and fizzy drinks are sold. Then the show begins at its usual slow pace, slow because of the numerous changes of scene and consequent intervals. The overseer used to keep order by whacking disturbers of the peace with a long bamboo cane.

The Beauty of Sicily

by Mccleanr56

We visited Messina on the 6th day of our cruise. The journey to Messina was interesting there was sites that I had originally studied in geography and never thought they exsisted like the terracettes used by farmers to concerve water in the soil. This was one thing that I liked about Sicily. The site from the theatre place was amazing. It is shown one of the pictures that I took.

"Landmarks!"

Messina and surroundings

by isolina_it

"My home town"

This is the place where I grew up until the day I moved to Amsterdam.
I love it and I have always kind of felt uneasy walking and living here I think because I have always had with ME a strange relation, of wish of leaving and come back soon, because of its wind and the sea and the ``open-close Messina people`` to whom I have always thought I would not belong but that know I recognize more than ever as part of myself, and this is why I miss it so much...!
So, have a visit and just get the pleasure of walking around and enjoy to its extent, because what Messina offers you is something with the heart, as well what it denies you dont have to feel sorry of. It`s just Messina...!

"A nice Sicily map"

Messina is situated on the north-eastern side of Sicily, on Messina's Strait which links the Tirreno with the Ionio and divides the isle from Calabria.
The best periods to visit Messina and its surroundings are in spring and at the beginning of summer, July and August being very hot.*

"A sip of myth"

At the entrance of The Straits of Messina there was a cave inhabited by a terrifying monster named Scilla. It had 12 horrible claws and six long necks and on each of them there was a head with a coloured mouth.
Every ship that sailed past the cave paid Scilla a high tribute because it would catch some men of the crew and kill them!
The opposite rock of the Straits was inhabited by Cariddi who swallowed up the waves of the sea 3 times a day and 3 times a day gave them back.
With this legend, invented by Homer, the ancient explained the continuous bubbling of the sea and its many dangerous whirpools.
Actually all that was caused by the particular sea floor and the violence of the currents in the Straits of Messina