Milazzo (Sicilian: Milazzu, Latin: Mylae[1]) is a town of on the north coast of Sicily, Italy. It lies 50 km from Messina, just north of the road to Palermo. It is located on a peninsula called Capo di Milazzo.

Several civilisations settled in Milazzo and left signs of their presence from the Neolithic age.

The finds discovered range over the Greco-Roman period to Byzantine age, go through Arabs, Normans and Spanish domination and arrive at the Italian Risorgimento.

In the historical texts Milazzo is present from the 9th-8th century B.C., after the Greco-Roman period, became with the Byzantines one of the first episcopal seats of Sicily. c Through the centuries, several historical personalities, like Frederick II and Charles d’Anjou, were present in Milazzo.

Furthermore, Homer's 'Odyssey' says that Milazzo was the land where Odysseus (Ulysses) was shipwrecked and met the mythic Cyclops Polyphemus. In fact ancient historians placed the town's foundation in 716 B.C. in a region so rich and temperate that it was called the "Sun Peninsula."

In 36 BC the naval battle of Mylae was fought offshore. The fleet of Caesar Octavian, commanded by Marcus Agrippa engaged that of Sextus Pompey. While the battle was nearly a draw, Sextus could not replace his losses, and was thus weaker at the following battle of Naulochus (3 Sept. 36), where he was utterly defeated (Dio 49.1-18).

Milazzo, as it was in antiquity, is the gateway port to the "seven sisters," the Aeolian Islands, named for Aeolus, god of winds, nymphs and satyrs. A natural paradise rich in history and art.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article: "Milazzo".