The myth of Scylla and Charybdis: the two monsters of the Strait of Messina
Between the tip of Calabria and the Sicilian coast, the Strait of Messina narrows to a channel just a few miles wide. Here the waters never run straight: they rise, turn and form whirlpools and eddies that have always made navigation difficult. To explain this restless sea, the ancients imagined two monstrous creatures lurking on the two shores: Scylla, on the Calabrian rocky spur that today bears her name, and Charybdis, the whirlpool that swallowed ships on the Sicilian side.
It is one of the most famous pages of Mediterranean mythology, told by Homer and revisited by literature for centuries. This guide traces its sources, the natural phenomenon behind it, and the places on the Costa Viola where the myth is still at home.
The myth in the classical sources: Homer, Virgil and Ovid
The oldest version of the myth is in Homer’s Odyssey: to return home, Ulysses must pass through a strait guarded by two inseparable dangers. On one side is Scylla, a six-headed monster nested in a cave of the rock, who snatches sailors from passing ships; on the other is Charybdis, who three times a day sucks in and spews out the waters of the sea. The sorceress Circe advises Ulysses to hug the rock of Scylla: better to lose six companions than the whole ship in the whirlpool.
Later tradition enriched the legend. In Ovid, Scylla is originally a beautiful nymph, turned into a monster out of jealousy by the sorceress Circe; Virgil, in the Aeneid, warns Aeneas of the same stretch of sea. From these pages also comes the saying “between Scylla and Charybdis”, still used today for someone caught between two equally fearsome dangers.
Behind the legend: the currents of the Strait and the Fata Morgana
Behind the mythological tale lies a real phenomenon. The Strait of Messina connects two seas, the Tyrrhenian and the Ionian, which have different characteristics; with every change of tide the water is pushed from one side of the channel to the other, accelerating at the narrowest point. This creates the currents that local fishermen call “rema montante” and “rema scendente”, accompanied by whirlpools and eddies clearly visible on the surface. It was these swirls, dangerous for small ancient boats, that inspired the figure of Charybdis.
The Strait is also famous for the Fata Morgana, a rare mirage that, on particularly calm days, makes the Sicilian coast appear suspended, stretched or upside down above the water, like a fantastic city. The name recalls the fairy Morgan le Fay of the Breton cycle. Together with the currents, these optical phenomena have for centuries fed the magical aura of this stretch of sea.
Where to relive the myth today: Scilla and the Costa Viola
The place of the myth has a precise name and face: the village of Scilla, at the southern tip of the Costa Viola, which grew up on the very rock where tradition placed the monster’s lair. Crowning the rocky spur stands Ruffo Castle, a fortress overlooking the Strait from which the view reaches Sicily and Mount Etna: it is the best spot to imagine the ships of Ulysses passing offshore. At the foot of the rock huddles Chianalea, the fishermen’s district with houses at the water’s edge, where the sea comes right up beneath the windows.
From Scilla you can watch the currents from the seafront, join the castle tours or climb to the upper San Giorgio quarter for an overall view. Swordfish, caught in the Strait with the traditional boats known as “feluche”, still ties local cuisine to this sea. For anyone wishing to explore the myth on site, Scilla and the nearby villages of the Costa Viola, from Bagnara to Palmi, are the ideal starting point.