Today, the remodelled city guards against future natural disasters, with wide streets and low, reinforced concrete buildings marching off in all directions. Not surprisingly, it is a pretty dull spectacle, and most of what interest there is resides in Messina's active port area. Take time at least to walk up Via I Settembre from the train station to Piazza del Duomo. The traffic-cluttered paved square was laid out in the eighteenth century, while the Duomo itself (daily 7.30am-11.45pm & 4.30-7pm, 3.30-6pm in winter) is a faithful reconstruction of the medieval cathedral built by Roger II. The facade retains its grand doorways and some original sculpture: inside, most of what you see - from the marble floor to the painted wooden ceiling - has been retouched and rebuilt. The detached campanile reputedly contains the largest astronomical clock in the world. Be there at noon and you get the full show, a visually impressive panoply of moving gilt figures including a crowing cock, roaring lion and a succession of doves and angels accompanying the Madonna.

Much of what was salvaged from the various disasters now resides in the Museo Regionale (summer Mon, Wed & Fri 9am-1.30pm, Tues, Thurs & Sat 9am-1.30pm & 4-6.30pm, Sun 9am-12.30pm; winter Mon, Wed & Fri 9am-1.30pm, Tues, Thurs & Sat 9am-1.30pm & 3-5.30pm; L8000/€4.13), 3km north of the centre - a 45-minute walk along Via della Liberta, or bus #28 from Piazza Cairoli or Via Garibaldi, or buses #76, #77, #78 and #79 from Via Garibaldi or the train station. A great deal has been painstakingly stuck and plastered back together in this beautifully laid-out museum, including a couple of Caravaggios, commissioned by the city in 1604. There are also damaged works by Antonello da Messina, a few good Flemish pieces and the city's rescued archeological remains as well.

If you're in Messina in mid-summer, you may coincide with the feast of the Assumption, or ferragosto , August 15, when a towering carriage, the Vara - an elaborate column supporting dozens of papier-mache putti and angels, topped by the figure of Christ stretching out his right arm to launch Mary heavenwards - is hauled through the city centre. Late at night, one of Sicily's best firework displays is held on the seafront near Via della Liberta.