Discover Giardini Naxos: Museum, Ancient City and Bay

Giardini Naxos combines a sheltered bay with an unusually rich glimpse into Greek antiquity. The bay is protected by hills and opens onto a warm, clear stretch of sea. At the entrance to the Archaeological Park, there is also a Bourbon fort: it houses the Archaeological Museum of Giardini Naxos. If you are looking for a holiday apartment in Giardini Naxos, you can shape the focus of your trip around the coast, history and lively festival traditions.

Holiday apartment in Giardini Naxos between coast and history

The collections of the Archaeological Museum consist largely of finds from more than fifty years of archaeological excavation campaigns at this site. The entrance rooms focus on the prehistoric developmental phases of the site and the early period of the Greek colony. This makes a visit to the museum an accessible introduction before you explore the ancient city area in greater detail.

Naxos was the first Greek colony in Sicily. The city was founded in 734 BC by colonists from the Aegean island of Naxos and followed a regular urban plan with streets intersecting at right angles. A tour of the ancient city area begins at the Archaeological Museum of Naxos. Among the notable remains are the Neoria, the ancient arsenal of Naxos with slipways where boats were housed.

The history of artisanal production is also part of the character of the site. Naxos is one of the archaeological sites on Sicily’s east coast where the largest number of kilns for producing terracotta objects has been documented. The evidence spans the Archaic period, the late Roman and Byzantine eras, and the present day. Those travelling with different interests will therefore find several ways to engage with the past here: urban planning, seafaring, ceramics and the development of a Greek settlement.

Sea, Schisò and local traditions

The bronze statue “Nike di Kalkis” stands in the Schisò district. The sculptor Carmelo Mendola created it in 1965; it was installed as a symbol of the town twinning between Giardini Naxos and Chalkis in the Cyclades. Castello di Schisò is a medieval bastion that preserves the remains of civic and religious buildings from this period. Both themes add more recent historical traces to the picture of Giardini Naxos.

The historical festival of San Pancrazio is part of the local festival calendar. On 6 August, it includes a procession on the sea. For your planning, you can consider this date a special cultural highlight alongside the archaeological attractions and the bay, without limiting your stay to a single travel idea.

Getting there and finding your way around your accommodation

Giardini Naxos can be reached quickly from Catania-Fontanarossa Airport and is connected by the Messina–Catania railway line. These two verified travel connections can help you choose your holiday apartment according to your preferred arrival method. For further orientation, you can give different weight to cultural highlights around the museum and ancient city, time spent at the bay or the date of the San Pancrazio festival.

Further destinations for your trip planning include Alicudi Porto, Calavà, Marina Di Patti, Messina, Nizza Di Sicilia, Castelmola, Rometta Marea and Santa Barbara.

Back to the higher-level travel overview: Messina.