Pace del Mela is a municipality in the province of Messina, set in a coastal and hilly area overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea. Its territory rises around 114 metres above sea level and stretches between inland districts and the shore, where Giammoro forms its largest coastal hamlet.
The town’s identity is unusually layered. Its name comes from the Latin *Pax*, meaning peace, with “Mela” referring to the nearby river. The area is associated in the sources with ancient Nauloco, while its later history is marked by feudal estates and a long Benedictine presence, which lasted until the suppression of religious orders in 1866. Pace del Mela became an autonomous municipality in 1926, after previously being a hamlet of Santa Lucia del Mela.
Rather than a single compact centre, Pace del Mela is made up of several nuclei, hamlets and rural districts, including Pace Inferiore, Pace Superiore, Camastrà and Giammoro. This scattered structure, divided between hillside settlement and Tyrrhenian coast, gives the town its distinctive character: a place where agricultural, monastic and coastal histories remain closely intertwined.
Patron Saint:
St Mary of Graces (Madonna delle Grazie) – 2 July
Nearest Airport:
Catania (Fontanarossa) – (152 km, 01:57)
Neighboring Cities:
