In the next few days, fifteen bilingual Greek-Italian tourist welcome panels, the first tranche of the production, will be placed in as many locations in the Messina area. The initiative of the municipal administration was presented this morning at Palazzo Zanca during a press conference attended by the mayor Federico Basile, the councilor for cultural policies Enzo Caruso, the honorary consul of Greece in Catania, Arturo Bizzarro , the president of the Hellenic Community of the Straits, Daniele Macris, professor Maria Polimenaku, seconded to Messina by the Greek Ministry of Education, and a class from the Maurolico high school.
Greek origins
“You always need to know and understand the history and roots of your city, together with its evolution – explained Mayor Basile – in order to then project yourself into the future. Messina was destroyed by the 1908 earthquake, but has never lost its historical origins and this initiative, strongly supported by the municipal administration, in agreement with the Hellenic Community of the Strait, was created to transmit another signal of its identity. Starting from the Greek origin, projects are activated to consolidate the historical and identity perimeter and attract an important segment of cultural tourism”.
At the Palacultura “From Greek myths to the legends of Messina”
“This path, which began a few years ago – continued councilor Caruso – is becoming increasingly stronger to give an identity to our Messina, which has been identified at ministerial level as the largest city with a Greek linguistic minority in the south Italy. For this reason, projects have been activated for the creation of laboratories for the knowledge of the Greek language and today from a tourist point of view a concrete signal is also given in the area. This project is linked to an even larger one in which the Municipality of Messina is a partner in the establishment of the Italian Blue Route, which is one of the European cultural routes in which Messina is inserted with the routes of Ulysses through the Greek myth. Specifically, this evening, at 6 pm, Giovanni Guglielmo’s exhibition ‘Myths and Legends’ will be inaugurated in the foyer of the Palacultura. From Greek myths to the legends of Messina’, which will be open to visitors for ten days”.
Kalos Project
The creation of bilingual Greek-Italian tourist signs represents part of the activities envisaged by the Kalos project, financed by the Presidency of the Council of Ministers and presented by the Municipality of Messina in 2023, to develop a program of activities aimed at enhancing and making known the minority Greek linguistics historically present in the Messina area. As part of the Kalos project, other activities were carried out such as Greek language and culture courses for municipal employees, the drafting of a multimedia dictionary to be included in the Municipality portal, organized by the students of the “Catalfamo” IC, and modern Greek at the Maurolico high school, thanks to the contribution of professors Daniele Macris, Antonio Cucinotta, Cristina Provenzano, Esmeralda Pagano, Teresa Cucinotta and Giuseppe Carbone.
