Consecrated on July 15, 1931, and designed by architect Cesare Bazzani, the Carmine Church in Messina stands as the historic seat of the Carmelite Order's first western foundation, established after their migration from the Holy Land in the 13th century. Located on Via Antonino Martino, the present structure replaced a temple destroyed during the catastrophic earthquake of December 28, 1908. Built in an 18th-century Baroque style to evoke the lost architecture of pre-earthquake Messina, the church was elevated to a sanctuary on May 13, 1956, by Archbishop Angelo Paino, serving as an architectural terminal point along Via Nicola Fabrizi and Corso Cavour.
What to see
The interior features a Greek-cross layout decorated with polychrome marble and pink marble columns topped with carved capitals. At the center, an octagonal dome with circular windows is crowned by a square lantern. The main altar houses an 18th-century statue depicting Our Lady of Mount Carmel holding the Infant Jesus as she hands the holy scapular to Saint Simon Stock. Seven side chapels define the perimeter. The Chapel of Saint Albert of the Abbots contains a life-sized wooden statue of the Carmelite saint holding the Christ Child, a lily, and a rulebook, resting on a base inscribed "Civitas Messana Gaude". Carved behind his feet are the stern and bow of the historic Vascelluzzo vessel, commemorating the relief ships that broke the famine during the 1302 siege of Messina. In the Chapel of Saint Anne, a wooden statue holds a book open to the biblical verse "Rorate coeli et desuper nubes pluvant iustum", while the Chapel of Our Lady of Lourdes displays a wooden statue originally housed in a post-1908 temporary shack-church on Via La Farina. Additional spaces include the Sacred Heart Chapel in the left transept, the Crucifix Chapel depicting the Mother of Sorrows, and the Chapel of Saint Lucy. Mounted on the loft is the Tamburini pipe organ from Crema, tested on January 30, 1954, and recently restored, featuring 1,400 pipes across two lofts, two 61-key manuals, and a 32-pedal concave pedalboard.
Visiting
The sanctuary holds historic parish records transferred from predecessor churches, including the July 7, 1851 baptismal entry of Saint Annibale Maria Di Francia. Situated near the city's Tribunal on the site of the former Grand Civil Hospital, the church remains central to local traditions, notably the annual Corpus Christi procession featuring the Vascelluzzo model.
Our editors' tip
Look closely at the base of the wooden statue in the Chapel of Saint Albert to see the detailed carvings of the Vascelluzzo vessel, a key symbol of Messina's medieval history.