The Strait of Messina separates Sicily from the toe of Italy.  It is narrower at the northern end (barely 1.5 nm) and wider at the southern end (about 7 nm).  It also separates the Tyrrhenian Sea from the Ionian Sea and has a reputation, dating back millennia for fearsome whirlpools and winds whistling down the mountains that border it (e.g. Scilla and Charybdis in The Odyssey).  Interestingly, the eddies in.. Read More