Description
Antique print dated 1895.
The page is over 115 years old and in good condition.
In order to enhance and protect the page we have set in within a bespoke frame and mount.
Frame size 400mm x 370mm. available also in a
gold frame, your choice. RtW.144.
Entitled – Messina. On the Marina.
Below the picture an inscription reads:
Messina. – A journey of ten or twelve hours from Palermo.
The population of Messina is somewhere about 78,000, and it is admirably placed near the central point of the Mediterrranean.
The port is fouur miles in circuit, inclosed by the low spit of land called the Braccio di S. Rainiere, which projects into the sea from the south of the town, and curves round like a sickle to the north and east.
The water here is so deep that it is difficult to anchor.
Messina itself lies along the coast for a distance of a mile and a quarter, facing the port and the straits.
It is of no great width, as the hills, which rise almost from the shore, leave but a narrow strip of level ground at their base.
This piece of ground is partly laid out in new streets and partly occupied by the railway station and the depot.
High above it, to the west, are the forts of Broccetta and Porta Legni.
To the south of the town lies the important suburb of Zaera, and between this and the sea are numerous orchards and gardens, while the hill-slopes inland are bright with vineyards, or dark with olive groves.
Our illustration shows the long quay known as the Marina, which, stretches along the shore in the form of a crescent for more than a mile, and is flanked by a range of lofty buildings, three stories high, and of uniform architecture.
There is a fine cathedral in Messina, and the nave is supported by twenty-six monolithic columns of granite, brought from an ancient Temple of Neptune at Faro Point.
The high altar cost 300,000 piastres, or £62,500.
The finest view is obtained from the summit of the tall octagonal tower of the old fort of Rocca Guilfonia, which occupies the highest part of the city, to the west.
The superb view from this eminence embraces the Straits, from Faro Point to the Capo Scaletta, with the wild coast of Calabria opposite.
If you buy an item and then see it relisted this is because we occasionally have more than one available, each page is
original and not a photocopy.
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