Description
The Old Station building was completed in 1908, despite the railway line connecting Messina to Palermo having opened in 1890. Expanded in 1948, it was then abandoned following the opening of the new station further down the city in 1991. Finally, it was renovated in 2011/12 to be used for commercial and cultural purposes.
The building, with two floors above ground in the central section and one floor with a terrace in the two lateral sections, has a rectangular plan and a regular façade with symmetrical openings surrounded by cornices. The entire ground floor, clad in travertine, is used primarily for artistic activities. The space behind it, once crossed by railway tracks, has now been landscaped. On the first floor, whose roof still retains the original exposed wooden trusses, a large exhibition space has been created, with access to two side terraces.
The adjacent white building, where the station services were located, has also been completely renovated with a contemporary architectural language, unlike the freight yard shed, which has been maintained in its essential forms and is now used as an auditorium.
In front of the old station, perfectly in line with Via Roma, stands the Seme d’Arancia, planted in tuff, resin, citrus fruits and volcanic waste. Inaugurated on March 21, 1998. The work, conceived by Emilio Isgrò (an internationally renowned Barcelona artist), is a large resin sculpture depicting an enlarged orange seed, placed in the center of the square transformed into a Mediterranean garden, to symbolize the city's thriving past as a major citrus fruit producer. It is no coincidence that it is located near what was once an important railway hub, from which trains laden with citrus fruits would follow one another on their long journey to the regions of Northern Italy. Citrus production inspired Isgrò to write the poem Produces oranges, which marked his departure for Milan and the beginning of his brilliant career as an artist, founder of the “visual poetry” and notes for his “deletions” of famous texts.
