The provinces of Sicily | Messina
Guide to the Messina province
The province of Messina covers an area of 3,247 sq.km. which includes the Aeolian Islands. It borders the province of Palermo to the west, the provinces of Enna and Catania tot the south, the Tyrrhenian Sea to the north and the Ionian Sea to the east. The province is mainly mountainous except for the plains around the rives and the immediate coastal area, which is where most of the inhabitants live. It is separated from mainland Italy by the Messina Straits and is only three kilometres away from the region of Calabria.
The province includes the Aeolian Islands, all part of the comune of Lipari (with the exception of Salina). The territory is largely mountainous, with the exception of alluvial plain at the mouths of the various rivers. The largest plain is that in the area between Milazzo and Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto, which, together with Messina, form a metropolitan area of some 500,000 inhabitants, one of the largest in southern Italy. Much of the population is concentrated in the coastal area, after the hill towns have been largely abandoned from the 19th century. The main mountain ridges are the Peloritani, up to in elevation, and the Nebrodi, up to , which are included in a Regional Natural Reserve. Rivers of the province include the Alcantara and the Pollina, which forms the border with the province of Palermo to the west.
