Silvio Berlusconi was first elected on a promise to build a bridge across the Strait of Messina from Sicily to Calabria on the Italian mainland, writes James Norton. Despite his immaculate personal integrity, some rather persuasive gentlemen from the shipping business had other ideas: build that bridge and you’ll be swimming with the fishes.
Last Friday while Messina round I did just that. There’s nothing dire about those straits and no need to swim icily, with the temperature a balmy 22C and the water a gorgeous blue, azure aware.
The swim was organised by Luciano Vietri, the first of three he is leading this summer. Last year Luciano was part of an awe-inspiring three man relay swimming the 240km from Olbia to Ostia – Sardinia to Rome – in 47 hours, their aim being to prove there is no barrier to achieving your dreams, one of the team, Nicola Azara, having lost a leg in a road accident.
My swim began at noon beneath the giant pylon of Torre Faro north of Messina and ended on the beach of Cannitello, a distance, of 3.75km which took me 70 minutes. Superbly organised – there was a fabulous team dinner the night before which I sadly had to miss – the 28 swimmers were put into groups of four of similar ability, each group sharing a boat.
There are strong currents in the strait and the swim is timed for the moment when the currents rest before changing direction. According to legend Odysseus had to contend with Scylla and Charybdis here. No sign of the silly monster (though there is a village called Scilla nearby), not even jellyfish, but there was a trace of the whirlpool Charybdis where two currents meet, dragging the last swimmers out of their way.
Earlier in the week I also went odd in the sea at Aci Trezza down the east coast. Here the Cyclops islands are so named because Polyphemus allegedly chucked them into the sea trying to crush Odysseus after he had blinded him. Created by the sea eroding lava from nearby Mount Etna, they are also the mineral stars of Visconti’s film La Terra Trema, and lying just a few hundred metres out made a lovely warm-up swim.
I was the only non-Italian in Messina, but as is the case the world over my fellow swimmers were delightful companions and I warmly recommend this mythic swim to you all. Details here:
James Norton
