Museum of the Cathedral of Messina

Inside the Basilica Sanctuary, the “Annibale Di Francia” Museum was established and inaugurated during the Holy Year 2000. Its uniqueness lies in the ½ scale reconstruction of the entire “Avignon Quarter,” just as Saint Annibale found it in his first encounter with the poor inhabitants, commonly called “mignuri.” 

The Museum, realized in two years based on designs by Architect Engineer Livio Lucà Trombetta, presents the figure and work of the distinguished citizen of Messina. The exhibition path begins with a gaze towards the pulpit, originally in the Sanctuary and now placed here after the Sanctuary’s restoration completed in 1976. 

 In the entrance corridor of the Museum, you can admire the drawings by Architect Antonio Favaloro who, as an eyewitness, faithfully reproduces the topography and structure of the quarter. Added to this is the precious 17th-century marble statue of Our Lady of Graces, signed by the Roman sculptor Vincenzo Tedeschi, which after the 1783 earthquake was moved from the Church of Santa Restituta to that of the Annunziata near the Zaèra stream.