All things you need to know about living in the province of Messina
The province of Messina is home to 828 Argentinians: 0.14% of its 596,147 residents, across 108 comuni.
ISTAT counts 29,011 residents with a foreign citizenship in the province, 4.87% of the population. The largest groups among the nationalities we follow most closely are Argentinians (828), Russians (352), Germans (309).
Over the period 2019–2025, the number of Argentinians in the province has risen, from 42 to 828 (+1871%).
Separately, ISTAT's census data shows 7.6% of the province's population was born outside Italy: 5.6% outside the EU and 2.0% elsewhere in the EU. This broad-group split isn't comparable per-nationality to the citizenship figures above. See about the data.
By nationality
| Nationality | Citizens | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Romania | 5,647 | 0.95% |
| Albania | 1,087 | 0.18% |
| Poland | 907 | 0.15% |
| Argentina | 828 | 0.14% |
| Ukraine | 828 | 0.14% |
| Russia | 352 | 0.06% |
| Germany | 309 | 0.05% |
| Brazil | 233 | 0.04% |
| Venezuela | 181 | 0.03% |
| France | 167 | 0.03% |
| United Kingdom | 119 | 0.02% |
| Bulgaria | 105 | 0.02% |
| United States | 102 | 0.02% |
| Spain | 95 | 0.02% |
| Switzerland | 75 | 0.01% |
| Czechia | 51 | 0.01% |
| Greece | 51 | 0.01% |
| Netherlands | 41 | 0.01% |
| Austria | 40 | 0.01% |
| Hungary | 37 | 0.01% |
| Belgium | 35 | 0.01% |
| Portugal | 34 | 0.01% |
| Slovakia | 34 | 0.01% |
| Mexico | 31 | 0.01% |
| Sweden | 31 | 0.01% |
| Ireland | 27 | 0.00% |
| Australia | 24 | 0.00% |
| Denmark | 22 | 0.00% |
| Finland | 20 | 0.00% |
| Japan | 18 | 0.00% |
| Croatia | 16 | 0.00% |
| Canada | 15 | 0.00% |
| Latvia | 14 | 0.00% |
| Lithuania | 13 | 0.00% |
| Malta | 10 | 0.00% |
| Estonia | 8 | 0.00% |
| Slovenia | 8 | 0.00% |
| Norway | 6 | 0.00% |
| South Korea | 3 | 0.00% |
| Luxembourg | 2 | 0.00% |
| Cyprus | 0 | 0.00% |
Country of birth
| Group | Residents | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Born in Italy | 550,686 | 92.37% |
| Born elsewhere in the EU | 11,940 | 2.00% |
| Born outside the EU | 33,521 | 5.62% |
Argentinians over time
Top 25 comuni by Argentinians share
- Fiumedinisi2.23%
- Furnari1.66%
- Montalbano Elicona1.62%
- Castel di Lucio1.56%
- Mazzarrà Sant'Andrea0.98%
- Roccalumera0.96%
- Oliveri0.82%
- San Piero Patti0.73%
- Graniti0.68%
- Pettineo0.65%
- Sant'Agata di Militello0.61%
- Itala0.60%
- Castroreale0.40%
- Gioiosa Marea0.39%
- Fondachelli-Fantina0.37%
- Scaletta Zanclea0.33%
- Letojanni0.31%
- San Marco d'Alunzio0.28%
- Santo Stefano di Camastra0.27%
- Gualtieri Sicaminò0.26%
- Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto0.22%
- Acquedolci0.20%
- Furci Siculo0.18%
- Lipari0.17%
- Militello Rosmarino0.17%
Quality of life (BES)
Quality of services
Landscape and cultural heritage
Safety
Social relationships
Economic well-being
Environment
Education and training
Work and life balance
Health
Compare Messina with other provinces →See Messina against all 107 on cost and quality →
Tax regimes
106 of Messina’s 108 comuni qualify for the 7% pensioner regime — 98% of the province’s towns, but 57% of the people who live in it.
The two differ because the regime caps comune size: the towns it excludes are the biggest ones. Where you’d actually be living matters more than how many towns are on the list.
Which towns, and how the 7% pensioner regime works →Seismic zones of its comuni
A province has no seismic zone of its own: each of its comuni has one. Here is how the 108 comuni of Messina are classified.
- Zone 1 (highest hazard)17
- Zone 291
- Zone 30
- Zone 4 (lowest hazard)0
Counts are comuni, not residents or land area. The zone is the legal classification each Region gave its comuni, not a forecast and not a verdict on any building. It has nothing to do with the 7% pensioner regime’s “seismic” routes, which depend on the 2009 and 2016–17 earthquake areas, not on a comune’s zone. See the map →