On June 7th 2022 Discover Messina Sicily celebrated 10 years of activity. We are happy to blow out our candles sharing with our affectionate guests, friends, followers and supporters a short report of steps, activities and projects carried out during our first 10 years.
Once upon a time Discover Messina… a bit of history
Discover Messina was born in Messina in 2012 as a project focused on tourist incoming and management of cultural heritage. In the historical city centre, at the Church of Catalans, considered the architectural jewel of the city just a few steps from Cathedral Square and from the Port of Messina, we welcomed a large number of visitors and tourists coming basically by cruise ships, with itineraries by horse-carriages and tourist trains and walking tours.
In 2013 we enabled conventions with local training centres: this opportunity let us come into contact with valuable trainees that contributed to the development and growth of our business and, thanks to their dedication and responsibility, they became more and more involved and part of it – until the present day.
In 2015 we cooperated with local high schools in work-related learning projects, destined for the enhancement of the territory: every year we also organize school itineraries and trips in the province of Messina.
At the end of 2017 we launched a cultural event, that represents our most successful activity: A Sunday in the village (“Una Domenica al Borgo”) is a monthly experience focused on discovering the most beautiful medieval villages included in the province of Messina (and not only), characterized by a unique cultural heritage and outstanding works of art.
In 2018 we have written a new chapter of our history
In February 2018 there was a turning point. Giacomo and the tour guides Katia, Chiara and Mariarita set up the company DISCOVER MESSINA TRAVEL: a few months later, in June, we gain the license to operate as a tour agency and tour operator. It was our 6th anniversary and we received the best present ever! In the same year, we organized evening walks in the city centre of Messina, “Four steps in Messina”; in summer time we had experiences to the Aeolian islands on day-cruise; from September we launched weekends in Sicily.
One year later, we decided to purchase a 9-seats minibus as it was useful and necessary to manage with small groups of visitors. But, at the end of the season, we suffered a terrible act of vandalism: our minibus was set on fire, a tragedy we are still paying for. We were able to overcome thanks to moral and economical support from our friends, families, guests and local partners through their donations.
A new challenge has come in front of us: the pandemic in 2020, lockdown and the consequent forced stop of our regular activities, already seriously affected after the fire of our van, let us experience our creativity so that we created the English version of our website discovermessina.com, we enriched our blogs publishing articles and we upgraded our Youtube channel with videos about Sicilian history, culture and traditions.
In summer 2020 we can finally restart our cultural events in Messina, and in September we organized a Weekend in Italy visiting Matera, Capital of culture in that year.
In 2021 we lived a partial reopening, still with safety measures and restrictions. We returned to organize almost entirely our activities and cultural events.
In 2022 we wish to have the opportunity to enhance our territory and the heritage of our beautiful city: this is why, since February 2022, we have promoted a cultural event destined to explore the Regional Museum of Messina, A Sunday at the Museum, to be realized every two months.
Moreover, in April 2022 we could finally fully restart our activities by welcoming travellers from cruise ships docking at the port of Messina.
Tours and events by Discover Messina Sicily
During these first ten years, we were glad to accompany thousands of visitors, from Italy but especially foreigners, visiting our city during cruise itineraries or residential tourists spending more days in Messina.
Cruise tourism has always represented our target audience. Over the years, we have enriched our offer starting from just 4 Sicily day tours (Messina Walking Tour, Messina city center and coast, Taormina and Castelmola tour, Etna and Taormina tour) and reaching today more than 30 tourist-cultural experiences and daily tours. Furthermore, we have created multiple-day packages to discover Sicily in 3/6/9 days, hiking and nature tours and trekking activities.
Our guests are families that visit us from other continents mainly from America (United States, Canada and South America), Australia but also from Italy and Europe (England and Spain).
Our greatest gratification is given by our fellow citizens from Messina that have embraced with friendliness and affection our activities ad projects operated in the territory: we dedicate to them the goal of our 10th anniversary. We have organized with them, since 2017, 82 events, and there are plenty of surprises in store for the next months.
It’s time to celebrate with Discover Messina Sicily!
On the occasion of our 10th anniversary, on June 7th 2022, we have decided to celebrate with our team remembering the moments and episodes (between smiles and tears) that have characterized our history until now, making us a Family.
We will be glad and honored to organize with you a special event to celebrate this important and significant goal: that’s why we want to THANK YOU DEEPLY for having always supported our entity: our effort and passion could not have been expressed without your presence and affection. We are extremely grateful since you made us grow and increase, you joined in times of trouble giving us a smile and you finally rejoiced when we raised.
