Photo Jeanne Griffin, CC BY-SA 4.0
Messina · Sicily
Things to see in Giardini Naxos
In Giardini Naxos the atlas lists 8 historic places: 4 archaeological sites, 2 castles, 1 fortress or tower and 1 museum.
For most of these places we don’t have verified opening hours yet: always check the official website before you go.
Don’t miss: Naxos, human settlement in Italy.
- 8historic places
- 9,231inhabitants
- 9 maltitude
The town
Giardini Naxos is a town in the Messina Province of Sicily. It lies on the east coast midway between Messina to the north and Catania to the south. Just above it is the mountain town of Taormina.
From the 8th century BC, Greeks began colonising southern Italy, Sicily, and the Adriatic, creating the Hellenistic civilisation known as "Magna Graecia". Their very first colony on Sicily appeared here in 735 BC, with settlers from the island of Naxos. Other colonies on Sicily grew large, but the town here never did, and in 403 BC it was smashed for having sided with Athens against victorious Syracuse.
In the 16th century AD, the coast here was fortified against pirate raids - the ruins of these forts remain.
Text from Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA, abridged · Wikivoyage
8 places
Archaeological sites 4
Fortresses and towers 1
Museums 1
Getting there
By plane: The nearest airport is Catania airport, Catania Fontanarossa (CTA IATA), 40 km south. Take the Interbus from the airport towards Taormina. Get off at Recanati for south & central parts of town, and at Taormina-Giardini railway station for the north end. Buses run roughly hourly 07:00-20:00, taking 80 min, fare €8.20 (€7.50 if bought online). Use this same bus line from downtown Catania.
By car: The Catania - Messina motorway A18 passes town, exit at "Giardini-Naxos" onto the main street SS 114.
By train: Taormina-Giardini railway station is at the north-east end of the town's seafront. There are trains roughly hourly from Messina to the north and Catania to the south, both taking just under an hour.
Text from Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA, abridged · Wikivoyage
What to see, according to Wikivoyage
Museo e Area Archeologica di Naxos, Lungomare Schisò. Taormina. Up the hill is a must-see for its historic centre. As well as the Interbus, Taormina town buses circle as far as Giardini Naxos railway station. Don't attempt the path, which remains unsafe and unrepaired after a landslide, and the main road Via Pirandello is too narrow and busy with traffic to walk.
However from Giardini Naxos it's actually easier to visit the headland just north, than it is from Taormina, which it's part of. Isola Bella is the tiny island which you can paddle to along the tombolo spit. It's now a nature reserve: they charge €4 to get in but there's nothing to see, the small museum is closed, and the island's beach is sharp volcanic shingle.
Villa Caronia. It appears to be closed since 2018.. A small museum near the foot of Via Pirandello.
A little further north along the coast is Mazzarò, with a collection of hotels and restaurants. The cable-car runs from here up to Taormina.
Parco fluviale dell'Alcantara. The valley running inland has the spectacular Alcantara Gorge, a canyon formed by lava flow.
Text from Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA, abridged · Wikivoyage · Underlined names link to our own pages.