Piazza IX Aprile

Taormina's main square sits midway along Corso Umberto, paved in a black-and-white lava and limestone checkerboard and named for April 9, 1860, when Mass here was interrupted by false news of Garibaldi's landing. Built as a terrace over the hillside, its seaward Belvedere looks out over the Bay of Naxos and the Ionian coastline, with Mount Etna often visible smoking on the horizon to the south. The 15th-century clock tower and the Church of San Giuseppe frame the square behind it.