The Legend of Colapesce

The story of the young Nichola of Messina, who remained underwater to support the weight of Sicily

Once upon a time in Messina there was the young Nicola, known as “Cola”. The boy was the son of a fisherman and was a very skilled swimmer, so much so that he was nicknamed Colapesce by his fellow citizens.

It was said that Colapesce was able to stay underwater for weeks, if not even whole months. When he returned from his underwater adventures, he would bring numerous treasures to the surface and tell his friends about the wonders of the underwater world.

Colapesce’s fame was such that it reached the ears of Federico II of Swabia, king of Sicily. The king wanted to meet the boy and see with his own eyes his great swimming skills. He decided to give Colapesce a task: he threw a cup in the middle of the Stretto di Messina and asked him to go and get it. Colapesce did not need to be told twice and, diving into the sea, recovered it in a few minutes.

Amazed by the boy’s skill and speed, Federico II raised the stakes: he threw his crown into a deeper spot, again asking the young man to retrieve the object. Also this time Colapesce succeeded in the feat in a short time, to the applause of all those present.

Not satisfied, the king took a smaller object, a ring, and threw it into an even deeper point, certain that this time the young man would not be able to repeat the feat. Colapesce dived into the water and went into the depths of the sea, where he managed to find the ring but, at the same time, he saw that Sicily was supported by three columns: one was at Capo Lilibeo, the tip of Trapani, the other at Capo Passero, below Syracuse, and the third at Capo Peloro, in Messina. The one under the city of the Strait was full of cracks and could collapse at any moment.

Once out of the sea, he told everything to Federico II who asked him to return underwater to better check the state of the column. Colapesce wanted to take a bag of lentils with him: if the king had seen only the lentils come back to the surface, it meant that he had lost his life in the enterprise. In fact, only the lentils resurfaced and the young man never came back to the surface.

But what happened to Colapesce? It is said that the young man did not die but that he decided to stay underwater to save Sicily, taking the place of the damaged column and carrying the entire region on his shoulders.

This, finally, would also explain the numerous earthquakes that have struck the province of Messina over the centuries. The trembling of the earth, in fact, would be caused by Colapesce who, tired of supporting the weight of the column, every now and then changes the shoulder on which the weight of the island rests. The trembling of the earth would be caused precisely by this movement. 

This legend has very ancient origins: it seems that it derives, in fact, from the god of the sea Neptune, the Roman version of the Greek god Poseidon, and from the late pagan cult of his children, among whom there is Triton, half man and half fish, whom Neptune had with Amphitrite, one of the Nereids, sea nymphs. Neptune also had children by mating with the mysterious marine animals that populate the ocean floor. These became divers who, thanks to the powers derived from their father, could hold their breath for a long time, reaching the deepest depths. The legend of Colapesce seems to derive from these ancient cults, which over time have become stories to be told and handed down to the present day.