Reprinted from Calabria: the Other Italy
Awakening of the Fata Morgana by Santina Orrico in Falvo, Palazzo della Cultura
“I have never beheld the enchantment of the Straits of Messina, that Fata Morgana, when, under certain conditions of weather, phantasmagoric palaces of wondrous shape are cast upon the waters – not mirrored, but standing upright; tangible, as it were; yet diaphanous as a veil of gauze.” Thus spake Norman Douglas in his Old Calabria. The extraordinary vision, looking across the Strait of Messina from Reggio Calabria to Sicily has eluded me, as well, in all my time spent in the Città della Fata Morgana.
What is the Fata Morgana?
In Reggio, it is said that the Fata Morgana is best seen on particularly warm, muggy days, at daybreak when the special combination of refraction and reflection create the mirage-like effect over the water. Yet, I remember seeing a photo in a Calabrian newspaper a number of years ago of the phenomenon on a cold winter’s day. Continue reading
