Messina – Piazza Duomo

Piazza Duomo is the most beautiful and important square in Messina, where you can admire the Orion Fountain, built by a disciple of Michelangelo Buonarroti in 1500, which represents the Nile, Tiber, Ebro and Canaro rivers and was sculpted to celebrate the first aqueduct of the city; the monument of the Immaculate Madonna, which was moved to the square in 1900; finally, the Cathedral, located on the right side of the square, built by the Normans and restructured due to the earthquake of 1908, this meant that the renovation works touched various styles from Renaissance decorations to full images of the Baroque up to 1900, moreover the statues, marbles and mosaics are all copies of the originals.
The facade is decorated with alternating multicoloured bands and enriched with marble and reliefs from the 14th century, which depict the inhabitants of the city in scenes of daily life, furthermore, the three portals are in Gothic style. The interior has also been renovated but we can admire the 24 concrete columns covered in marble that divide the naves and are part of the frame of the church to resist any future earthquakes.
Finally, the bell tower is very important, located on the left side of the facade, which contains a splendid animated astronomical clock on which one side houses a large luminous dial that scans the hours and on the other side there is the complex game of gears, counterweights and levers that move the characters of the clock, every day at noon.