Venue and Travel Information
Venue
UPoN 2026 Venue
The UPoN 2026 Conference will take place in downtown Messina, at the University main building (Rectorate).
The closest airports are the Catania International airport (CTA) and the Tito Minniti Airport in Reggio Calabria (REG).
The Catania International airport (CTA) is the larger of the two with well established services for the transfer to and from Messina.
The Tito Minniti Airport in Reggio Calabria (REG) is geographically closer, but it is smaller and it is situated across the Stretto di Messina (Strait of Messina).
In this page we will provide information about how to reach Messina when flying to Catania. If, for any reason, you would like to fly to Reggio Calabria, please contact us and we will try to help in organizing the transfer to Messina.
Messina can be easily reached from continental Italy by train by reaching the railway station of Villa San Giovanni and crossing the strait with conventional or high speed ferryboats (see below).
Flying to the neasrest airport
Reaching Messina by plane
Flying to Catania
Catania Airport (CTA) is located 90 kilometers from Messina (see map below).
Please note: a few booking services may include, by default, the Comiso Airport as a possible destination when you ask for Catania; the distance between Comiso Airport (CIY) and Messina is more than 180 km).
Once you arrive at Catania Airport, there are multiple options to reach Messina.
Rent a car.
Major car rental companies operate in Catania. The car rental parking is located in front of the airport terminal. While we do not expect accomodation to be very expensive in downtown Messina, a car allows you a larger selection of accomodations and the ability to visit nearby cities and locations. There are many parking areas near the conference site. Parking cost is in the order of 1 EUR per hour with discounts for parking for half a day or for a full day. Parking can be paid using EasyPark or MoneyGo.
Take a train directly from the airport
Catania Airport train station is 600 meters from the airport terminal and is connected by a shuttle service every 10 minutes. From the “Catania Aeroporto Fontanarossa” train station, you can reach the “Messina Centrale” train station. The distance of the “Messina Centrale” train station from the conference venue is less than 1 km (about 14 minutes walking distance).
Please consult the Trenitalia website for the timetable and for ticket reservation/purchase. You must select different options depending on whether you want to walk to the railway station or you want to take advantage of the shuttle service.
Without shuttle service
Start the seach for connections and fill in the “Departure from” and “Arrival at ” fields exacly as in the figure below and the other fields according to your preferences.
With shuttle service included
Start the seach for connections and fill in the “Departure from” and “Arrival at ” fields exacly as in the figure below and the other fields according to your preferences.
Travel time (train) is below 2 hours.
You can add the return ticked if you want.
As an alternative, you can catch a shuttle to the “Catania Centrale” railway station. You may have more options, in terms of arrival and depature times, in this way.
Catania Central Station is connected to the airport by the AMTS “Alibus”, which departs every 25 minutes. Tickets cost €4. You can buy a ticket on board or at the AMTS ticket offices.
The shuttles to both the airport railway station and to the Catania Centrale railway station leave from the first lane outside Arrivals – Terminal A.
Take a bus to Messina at the airport exit.
There are shuttle buses that connect Catania Airport to Messina operated by “SAIS Autolinee” . This is possibly the easiest option.
When booking the ticket, after the first selection as below (from Catania Aeroporto to Messina)
be sure to select “Catania aeroporto – terminal arrivi” in the “Seleziona la stazione di partenza” option list and “Stazione T-Bus Piazza della Repubblica” in the ” in the “Selezione la stazione di arrivo” option list.
“Piazza della Repubblica” is the square in front of Messina Centrale railway station, quite close to the coneference venue (see above).
Taxi/private taxi services
A taxi form Catania Airport to Messina can be quite expensive. From slightly above 100 EUR up to 200 EUR depending on the number of passengers.
Flying to Reggio Calabria
The Tito Minniti Airport in Reggio Calabria (REG) is located in Calabria, on the other side of te Stretto di Messina with respect to Messina. The Airport in Reggio Calabria is geographically close to Messina, but one needs to cross the Stretto di Messina to reach Messina. Moreover, the airport of Reggio Calabria is smaller with respect to the airport of Catania.
Once you land at the Reggio Calabria Airport, there are several options to reach Messina, many of which rely on local transportation sevices with the risk of lack of proper information for travellers who do not speak Italian. Possibly, the most straightforward way to reach Messina from the Reggio Calabria Airport is to reach the Villa San Giovanni railway station (either directly or by taking a train from Reggio Calabria to Villa San Giovanni) and follow the instructions on how to reach Messina from Villa San Giovanni in the section below, dedicated to travellers taking the train.
Reaching Messina by Train
Reaching Messina by train
From Catania (Sicily)
Please refer to the previous section dedicated to the Catania Airport.
From Palermo (Sicily)
You may have decided to extend your staying in Sicily and Palermo is certainly one of the cities that deserve to be visited if you come to Sicily.
There is an international airport in Palermo (Falcone Borsellino Airport, PMO). After spending some time in Palermo, taking the train from the Palermo Centrale railway station to reach the Messina Centrale railway station is certainly an option. The travel time is abouth three hours for (it is not an high speed line). You can take a bus from Palermo to Messina operated by “SAIS Autolinee” . The travel time, however, is the about the same.
From continental Italy.
This option may be interesting since the fastest way to reach Messina from the continent is to cross the stait from the city of Villa S. Giovanni and the Villa S. Giovanni railway station is well connected by high speed trains to most cities (and therefore airports) in continental Italy. Cleary, the farther nord you take the train, the longer the travel time. The travel time by train from Rome to Villa S. Giovanni can be less than 5 hours; from Naples can be less 4 hours.
Note that there is an international airport in Calabria at Lamezia Terme (Lamezia Terme International Airport, SUF). From this airport you can take a city bus that in a couple of minutes reaches the Lamezia Terme Railway station and form there, by taking the train, you can reach Villa S. Giovanni in 1 hour.
You can reach Messina from Villa S. Giovanni in a few ways:
- Trains reaching Villa S. Giovanni may have sections that are separated and boarded onto the train ferry reaching Messina; once in Messina the sections are disambarked and a train is formed that reaches the Messina Centrale railway station. If you took one of such trains, you can just stay in your seat on the train during the entire process (about 40 min ) and leave the train once it reaches Messina Centrale.
- Once you get off the train at Villa S. Giovanni, you can reach the underpass and turn toward west: at the exit of the underpass you can embark on a fast ship to Messina (20 min travel time), that will disembark you very close to the Messina Centrale railway station. Tickets can be bought online or directly at the exit of the underpass, before embarking.