Santa Teresa di Riva

It' splendid beach was noted over two thousand five hundred years ago, when the Phoenicians, where the present-day village is, founded a commercial colony, which they called Phoenix. Then the fate of this place, for good or for bad, was always linked to the crystalline waters of the Ionian, for from the sea there came, in addition to natural riches, the perils of piracy, which for centuries infested the Mediterranean.

For this reason, Santa Teresa di Riva was above all a place of lookout towers. From the time of the Arab invasion down to the Norman period, there were at least five of them. All that remains is the square Baglio Tower, with the remains of a perimeter wall, the Saracen Tower, and the Catalmo Tower, encompassed in the urban texture of the medieval part of the village.

Santa Teresa di Riva was always linked to the old barony of Savoca, and for centuries it was the seaside part of the latter. In 1849 the Bourbons destroyed almost all the houses at Marina di Savoca. However, the people that survived rebuilt the village, which in the end became independent of Savoca, thanks to Frederick II of Bourbon, in 1854.

And, as homage to the sovereign’s wife, Teresa of Austria, the inhabitants called it Santa Teresa. After the Unification of Italy, the words “di Riva” were added, to distinguish it from other villages with the same name. But at Santa Teresa there is not just history and testimonies to the past. In the village there are a lot of modern sculptures and murals in the squares, on the seafront, and in various other places in the village. Today Santa Teresa di Riva is also the most important commercial centre on the Ionian side of Messina province.

POINT OF INTEREST

Santa Maria del Carmelo church: Built in 1929 on the site of an old church from 1507, the main church is a fine example of Neo-Romanesque style with a nave and two side aisles. Inside it there is the wooden statue of the Madonna del Carmelo (19th century). In the apse there is a fresco depicting the four evangelists. On the façade above the three entrance doors there are three mosaics, done in 1934, representing the Madonna del Carmelo, St. Teresa of Avila and St. Albert. 

Saracen Tower: Built for sighting pirates, in 1850 it was incorporated in the little palazzo of the Bucalo family. At the end of the nineteenth century, its dome was truncated and was adorned with battlements. 

Porto Salvo church: Although it is a reconstruction, to it there is linked a story of the sea and of faith. At the end of the eighteenth century some fi shermen, caught in a violent storm, invoked the Madonna, promising they would build a church. Today the old Porto Salvo church is gone, but the new building maintains the testimony of faith of fi shermen in the area.

Catalmo Tower: It was built in 1506 on the left bank of the river Savoca, by the Savoca man Don Pietro Trimarchi . Until the eighteenth century it played an important strategic role due to its proximity to the Pentefur castle.

San Vito Martire church: Located in the hill village of Misserio, it was built in 1706 by the master builder Girolamo Conte from Roccalumera. Inside it there are six lunette frescoes depicting scenes from the Holy Scriptures, done by the artist Nino Ucchino in 1983. In 1968, in the basement of the church, an old crypt was discovered where, in the eighteenth century, the faithful, priests and nobles of Misserio, were buried. This crypt was restored by the Superintendence in 2004 and can be visited.

Artwork on the seafront: The seafront is a true openair art gallery where the fantastic steel sculptures of the Santa Teresa artist Nino UcUcchino are on display.

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