page_title: Pylons of Messina
section_title: Today
hierarchical_section_title: Pylons of Messina / Today
caption_attribution_description: English: Dismissed electricity pylon on the edge of the Strait of Messina, known as Pilone di Torre Faro, Messina, Italy. Italiano: Traliccio dell'elettricità in disuso sullo Stretto di Messina, detto Pilone di Torre Faro, Messina, Italia.
context_page_description: The Pylons of Messina are two free-standing steel towers, the Sicilian one in Torre Faro and the Calabrian one in Villa San Giovanni. They were used from 1955 to 1994 to carry a 220 kilovolt power line across the Strait of Messina, between the Scilla substation in Calabria on the Italian mainland at 38°14′42″N 15°40′59″E and the Messina-Santo substation in Sicily at 38°15′57″N 15°39′04″E.
context_section_description: After the removal of the power lines, the pylons remain with protected status as historical monuments and are used for meteorological measurements, high distance rescue training and telecommunications.  Since 2006, it has been possible to visit the pylon on the Sicilian shore; access to the top is by a stairway with 1,250 steps.
  The switching stations at both ends of the span still exist. The former anchor portal at Cannitello Switching Station is still in place but the tensioning system at Torre Faro has been dismantled. The unused power line from Scilla substation to Cannitello remains, while the line from Torre Faro Switching Station to Messina-Santo substation may be completely dismantled.
caption: The former electricity pylon at Torre Faro has been open to visitors since 2006
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