Messina, awaits visitors beyond the Strait with its port, first in Italy for number of passengers and sixth for cruise traffic. The most prestigious monument built by the Norman Roger II is the cathedral built in the first half of the twelfth century, with inside the statue of St. John the Baptist attributed to Antonello Gagini and the Sacrament Chapel, designed by Jacopo del Duca, student Michelangelo. Every day at the stroke of noon, you can see on the west side of the Campanile sculptural figures animated by mechanical devices representing historical and religious events. In the center, the sixteenth Fountain of Orion, monumental fountain built by Fra Giovanni Angelo Montorsoli, also a disciple of Michelangelo, dating back to 1553. Other religious buildings to visit are the Church of St. Francis of Assisi, first temple erected by the Franciscan order in Sicily and the Church of the Annunciation of the Catalans, built between 1150 and 1200, on the ruins of the pagan temple of Neptune. Noteworthy is the Regional Museum in which there are precious works among which the “Altarpiece of St. Gregory” by Antonello da Messina, the “Adoration of the Magi” and the “Resurrection of Lazarus” by Caravaggio. For those who want to engage in naturalistic routes we recommend a visit of the regional reserve, formed by a volcanic island near the Nebrodi Mountains, inhabited mainly by dormice and Eleonora’s falcon. Not to mention the visit to the Aeolian Islands, opposite the Gulf of Patti, of extraordinary beauty and unique in the world in terms of colors and shades.