Tindari

Tindari Spit

Tindari is an oasis of peace and tranquillity perched high above the sea on a cliff in the northwestern section of Messina province. It was built by Dionysios I of Syracuse in 396 B.C. to safeguard the north coast against Carthaginian attacks. He populated it with refugees from Greece, especially those from Messini, Zákinthos and Naupaktos who had lost their homes during the Peloponnesian War.

Tindari was named after King Tyndareos (Tyndarus) of Sparta, whose wife Leda was said to have given birth to the heavenly twins Castor and Pollux.

The Black Madonna of Tindari

Today it is famous for its sanctuary dedicated to Black Madonna and is a place of pilgrimage for people of the Catholic faith. The date when the Adoration of the Virgin Mary first began cannot be determined exactly. According to legend the statue with miraculous powers on the high altar in the Santuario della Madonna Nera came to Sicily from Constantinople in the eighth or ninth centuries when iconoclasm flared up. Legend also states that the ship in which it was being brought to safety ran aground off Tindari and was able to free itself only after the statue of the Virgin had been brought ashore. A chapel was built, which was destroyed by pirates in the 16th century and replaced by a new chapel of the Black Madonna. The present church, the dome of which can be seen from afar, is a new building erected in the 1950s.