Cathedral

The Norman cathedral is one of the most attractive in Sicily despite having been stricken by one disaster after another. Built in 1150, it suffered its first mishap in 1254 at the funeral of Conrad IV (son of Frederick II), when a mass of candles set the church on fire. Devastating earthquakes in 1783 and 1908, and a WWII incendiary bomb in 1943, put paid to the rest. True to their patrician nature, the Messinese rebuilt it faithfully in the style of the original basilica, complete with its mosaic apses. The lovely stripy marble inlay, the tracery of the facade and the Catalan-Gothic portal with its sculpted columns are some of the few original elements that were salvaged.