Pagliara

Pagliara is a small medieval hill town in the Province of Messina, set on the Ionian side of the Peloritani at around 200 metres above sea level. It lies in the basin of the stream that shares its name, within a coastal hilly landscape where its rural and agricultural character still defines the village.

Its identity is closely tied to the “pagliare”, early shelters made from straw and branches that gave the settlement its name and shaped its oldest memory. The town’s origins are associated with people from Fiumedinisi, or Nisi, who settled near the stream in search of a milder climate; older names recorded for the place include Casale Tuguriorum and Palearia.

Pagliara later became part of the medieval feudal world connected with Savoca, and in 1130 Roger II of Altavilla created it as a feudal town. It gradually developed from a compact rural nucleus into an autonomous municipality, while retaining the character of a small agricultural community rooted in the Ionian Peloritani. Its distinctiveness lies in this link between landscape, medieval feudal history and the humble straw-built shelters remembered in its name.