Giardini Naxos is a municipality in Messina province on the island of Sicily in Italy. Its population is about 9000 (2002). Naxos, founded in 734 B.C., was the first Greek colony in Sicily. Today it is a popular seaside-resort.
Ancient Naxos
Founded by Thucles the Chalcidian in 734 B.C., it was never a powerful city, but its temple of Apollo Archegetes, protecting deity of all the Greek colonies, gave it prominence in religious affairs. Leontini and Catania were both colonized from here. Hippocrates, tyrant of Gela, captured it in 494 B.C. Its opposition to Syracuse ultimately led to its capture and destruction in 403 B.C. at the hands of Dionysius the tyrant, after it had supported Athens during that city's disastrous Sicilian Expedition. Though the site continued to be inhabited, most activity shifted to neighbouring Tauromenium.