by Redazione 06/11/2026
Categories: News / Disclaimer
A fire broke out on the afternoon of November 5 and affected the ceiling of the Messina Chamber of Commerce, a building linked to the city’s history of post-earthquake reconstruction. During the rescue operations, Superintendent Luigi Giacobbe arrived on the scene to secure the works of art.
Yesterday afternoon, November 5, a fire broke out in the ceiling of the Messina Chamber of Commerce, a building that preserves an important part of the city’s history following the 1908 earthquake. The flames required the intervention of the fire department, which worked to extinguish the blaze and secure the premises, while local authorities monitored the situation as it unfolded.
In a message posted on his social media channels, Messina Mayor Federico Basile expressed the city administration’s concern over the fire, describing it as a wound to the city’s memory and history. The building, in fact, stands as an important testament to Messina’s reconstruction following the earthquake and houses part of the city’s historical and artistic heritage.
In his statement, Basile also thanked the Fire Department for their work, along with the Municipal Police, Civil Protection, and everyone involved in the rescue operations. The city administration also immediately made AMAM’s water tankers available.
Meanwhile, as rescue operations continued, the priority became safeguarding the works of art housed in the building. As documented in an article in the *Gazzetta del Sud* written by Sebastiano Caspanello, the president of the Chamber of Commerce, Ivo Blandina; the president of Confesercenti, Alberto Palella; Messina’s Superintendent of Cultural Heritage, Luigi Giacobbe, and former Superintendent Orazio Micali. The four personally oversaw the transfer of the paintings from the building, contributing to efforts to safeguard the artistic heritage threatened by the fire.
As the article reports, the works were loaded onto a fire department vehicle and transported to the Regional Museum of Messina, designated as a temporary storage site. The transfer was arranged to protect the paintings from any damage caused by the fire and smoke, keeping them safe while rescue operations continued inside the building.
The photographs published by the *Gazzetta del Sud* document these very operations and show the firefighters directly involved in recovering the paintings. This incident thus draws attention to the vulnerability of historic buildings and the works they house, especially when a sudden event puts the structures and material artifacts linked to a community’s history at risk.
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| Messina: Fire at the Chamber of Commerce, and the superintendent personally saves the artworks |
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