On the occasion of the 2018 Edition of the International Tourist Guide Day, the association Guide Turistiche Eolie Messina Taormina organized a day of free guided tours of the Sanctuary of St. Francis of Paola in Milazzo.
What is the tourist guide day?
For 28 years the World Federation of Tourist Guide Associations and the Italian Association of Tourist Guides have been celebrating the international tourist guide day. This event promotes the professionalism of tourist guides in the world.
Therefore, tourist guides propose free guided tours to places of artistic and cultural interest. The event focuses on a profession which often is not very appreciated and consequently not very well known. Nevertheless, this profession is extremely important. In fact, it makes people sensitive to the enhancement and to the knowledge of cultural heritage of our country. So the tourist guide day allows people to know the importance of this professional figure.
For this reason, on Sunday 25 th February 2018 the Association Guide Turistiche Eolie Messina Taormina participated in this initiative. In 2017, the Association had already proposed an innovative guided tour of Messina which had met with great success.
The Sanctuary of Saint Francis of Paola in Milazzo
It is the only sanctuary in Sicily built by the Saint himself in 1465.
The façade is the result of an eighteenth-century reconstruction and the interior of the church houses very interesting works of art, for example:
- an alabaster statue of the Virgin Mary with the Child sculpted by Domenico Gagini;
- altarpieces with the miracles of the Saint, eighteenth-century works of art by Letterio Paladino.
Moreover the one-nave church is a rococo jewel.
Noteworthy are the story of the Order of Minim Friars and the miracles of Saint Francis of Paola. They mix in the church. With regard to the miraculous events, the stones of the miracle are in the sacristy.
Furthermore, in Milazzo, the 2018 edition of the International Tourist Guide Day includes a fund-raising for the Order of Minim Friars.
You can always book a guided tour of the Sanctuary. Write to: guideturistichemessina@gmail.com.
