The name comes from a plant, soapwort, which grew everywhere here and lathered in water: it was used for washing. At the Bottesco, the fountain with its stone basins, people still bring their laundry.
The town grew below a hill of 321 metres, where the ruins remain of a castle set there to watch whoever came from the sea. In 1824 it had become a comune, but in 1929 it was joined with other villages into the new comune of Villafranca Tirrena: the people of Saponara never accepted it, and in November 1952 the regional assembly gave them back their town hall and their old name. There are 4,078 residents.
Arancino · Pasta alla Norma · Pitone messinese
Compare hotels, B&Bs and holiday homes on Booking.com for your dates.
Next up: Saint Nicholas of Bari, patron celebrated with dawn mortar shots, Sunday 6 December
Nearest airport: Reggio Calabria, 24 km away
No events match these filters.
📅 Every year, on 6 December
Saponara celebrates Saint Nicholas of Bari on 6 December; the church dedicated to him holds the saint's bust, carried in procession on the feast day after the morning mortar shots, with the characteristic procession called «Quadrittu».
Saffron rice, ragù with peas and caciocavallo inside a golden cone-shaped crust: in Catania it is masculine and pointed, and the quarrel with Palermo over the name is serious.
Read more →A thin sheet of dough folded into a half-moon and fried, with escarole, tuma cheese, anchovies and black pepper inside: Messina’s street food, to eat hot straight from the rosticceria.
Read more →Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Outside Saponara, but an easy day trip away.
