Messina - Piazza del Duomo / Orion fountain

The cathedral square (Piazza del Duomo) acquires its status as the historical center of Messina by virtue of the cathedral and Orion fountain and, with the square nowclosed to cars, its considerable beauties are more evident. The Orion fountain (1547-51) by G.A. Montorsoli from Florence, a pupil of Michelangelo, forms, with the pathos of its statues, a stark contrast to the strong outlines of the cathedral, along the left long side of which stands the baroque column of the Virgin Mary by Giuseppe Buceti (1758).