MESSINA, a city of Sicily, situated at thc north east extremity of that island, and on the eastern shore of the Straits of the same name, which are particularly celebrated from containing Scylla and Charybdis within their precincts. They arc formed by a promontory of Calabria on the continental side, and Cape Pclorus on the Sicilian coast, the intermediate distance being about two miles. Scylla is a lofty rock, rising. abruptly from the sea, on the shore of Calabria, 12 miles north west of Messina : it is surmounted by a castle, and de clines towards the town of Scylla on the coast. At the distance of two miles from it a murmuring noise like the confused barking of dogs is heard, which is occasioned by the dashing of the billows among the caverns helow and hence the ancients fabled a hideous female monster, surrounded by ferocious animals, ready to devour those mariners who came within her reach. In calm weather no danger is to be apprehended, but a vessel brought into the conflicting wind and the current of the Straits, which sometimes runs with great violence, is still exposed to destruction.—Charybdis, described as a raging whirlpool, which absorbed whole vessels with their crews, and then rejected the broken fragments and mangled bodies, lies 750 feet from the city. At present, when viewed from the shore, it appears like a body of water in tumultuous agitation, and on nearer approach the waves arc disco vered to be larger and more disturbed, dashing together, so as to produce a revolving motion among themselves, throughout a circle of about 100 feet in diameter, where the sea is 500 feet deep. The smallest barks may now cross it in safety ; but when a strong wind and current are opposite, the waves become more turbulent and ex. tensive, and three or four, or a greater number of whirl pools, are formed: Vessels driven among them are not manageable, and if unassisted by the pilots of the country, they founder, or are impelled on the opposite shore, and wrecked. Charybdis, however, is not properly a vortex ; it has no power of absorption ; and vessels, on the con trary, are rather repelled from it by a centrifugal force. Though extricated from Charybdis, a ship meeting an adverse wind, on leaving the Straits, may fall on Scylla, thus verifying the words of the ancients. Twenty-four pilots are kept in the service of the Sicilian government, to assist vessels navigating these Straits, which were passed for the first time by a modern fleet, it is said, when the British advanced to the battle of the Nile.
One side of the city of Messina rises from a narrow plain on the shore, along the declivity of a chain of mountains, finely wooded and diversified, and another sweeps along the margin of a beautiful harbour. It is
built with considerable regularity, nearly in the figure of a parallelogram, and consists of two long principal streets, besides a third on the quay, intersected by a number of others, at right angles, all of which are paved with large blocks of lava from the volcanoes of the island. It con tains several squares and open spaces, embellished with a number of statues and fountains, the latter copiously supplied from the neighbouring mountains; from whence also torrents descend through the streets, where they arc confined by walls to prevent their injuring the buildings. A street called the Marina, or Palazzata, formed of a row of lofty elegant buildings, extends above a mile along the harbour, where the great depth of water admits of the largest vessels approaching- to the very edge. It is penetrated by eighteen or nineteen gateways, leading to the respective streets in the city, over which are sculp tured appropriate designs and inscriptions ; and one end terminates ‘Nith the royal palace. A considerable portion of the whole, however, as well as the statues in front of these edifices, was ruined in the year 1783, and is scarcely yet completely restored.
Messina contains numerous public edifices, among which are about fifty churches, many of line architec ture, and internally decorated with paintings, for the most part from the pencil ol native masters. The ca thedral, a spacious building ol Gothic architecture, and highly embellished within, stands in an irregular square, where there is a bronze equestrian statue of Charles Ill. of Spain in the centre. Antique granite columns, brought from a temple of Neptune once standing on the Straits, support the vaulted roof and the timber work of the nave. The great altar consists of mosaic, richly exe cuted in jasper, agate, lapis lazuli, remarkable marbles and pastes of various colours, whose combination, to gether with gilded bronze, produces an imposing ef fect. There is a marble pulpit here, the work of Gaggini, a Sicilian sculptor of the sixteenth century, which is much admired. This cathedral was erected by Roger, Count of Sicily, in the end of the eleventh, or beginning of the twelfth century ; it is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, an original letter from whom, addressed from Je rusalem to their progenitors, the Messinese boast of yet possessing. Messina is an archiepiscopal see. Directly opposite to the cathedral there is a lountain, ornamented with a number of fine marble statues of nymphs and deities, alike elegant in design and execution. It is to be remarked, that some parts of the city, such as the Square of the Four Fountains, are named from the struc tures of this kind embellishing them.