Itala is a ''

comune A (; : , ) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions () and provinces (). The can also have the City status in Italy, titl ...

'' (municipality) of

Messina Messina ( , ; ; ; ) is a harbour city and the capital city, capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of 216,918 inhabitants ...

in the

Italian region The regions of Italy () are the first-level administrative divisions of the Italian Republic, constituting its second NUTS administrative level. There are twenty regions, five of which are autonomous regions with special status. Under the Con ...

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

. Itala borders the following municipalities: Alì,

Alì Terme Alì Terme is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Messina in the Italian region Sicily, located about east of Palermo and about southwest of Messina. Alì Terme borders the following municipalities: Alì, Fiumedinisi, Ital ...

Fiumedinisi Fiumedinisi ( Sicilian: ''Ciumidinisi'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Messina in the Italian region Sicily, located about east of Palermo and about southwest of Messina. Fiumedinisi borders the following municipali ...

, Scaletta Zanclea.

Possible origin of the town name

Because of similarity to the country name ( versus ), the origins of the name have been studied extensively. One theory, according to the historian

Dionysius of Halicarnassus Dionysius of Halicarnassus (, ; – after 7 BC) was a Greek historian and teacher of rhetoric, who flourished during the reign of Emperor Augustus. His literary style was ''atticistic'' – imitating Classical Attic Greek in its prime. ...

, who in turn cites

Antiochus of Syracuse Antiochus of Syracuse () was a Greek historian of Magna Graecia, who flourished around 420 BC. Little is known of Antiochus' life, but his works, of which only fragments remain, enjoyed a high reputation because of their accuracy. He wrote a ''Hist ...

, posits the name "" (and presumably also "") likely derives from its mythical founder "

Italus Italus or Italos (from ) was a legendary king of the Oenotrians, ancient people of Italic origin who inhabited the region now called Calabria, in southern Italy. In his ''Fabularum Liber'' (or ''Fabulae''), Gaius Julius Hyginus recorded the myth ...

," son of

Oenotrus In Greek mythology, Oenotrus () was the youngest of fifty sons of Lycaon from Arcadia. Together with his brother Peucetius (), he migrated to the Italian Peninsula, dissatisfied because of the division of Peloponnesus among the fifty brothers ...

(the youngest of fifty sons of Lycaon from Arcadia):

Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul

The Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul is located in Itala. The church dates from (at least) the 11th century.

External links

Itala comune official website

References

{{Province of Messina Cities and towns in Sicily