The building dominates the city from the top of the hill. It raises up on  Caperrina Hill, famous for the Sicilian Vespers resistance against the Angevins that started here in 1282. The legend says that once—during a hard battle against the French army, while the people of Messina were at the end of their strengths—on the top of Caperrina Hill a white Lady, who averted the enemy’s darts and hid the city walls by covering them using her white veil, appeared. The Lady was the Virgin and, after this episode, she appeared in a young friar’s (Nicola’s) dreams, asking for the building of a sanctuary dedicated to her in the place in which the white Lady appeared. The Virgin advised Nicola that on the following day, a white flying dove would mark the perimeter of the church she wanted. The next day, before the very eyes of senators, archbishop and a large number of believers, the white dove appeared and gave the directions for the realization of the church. 

In 1294 Queen Constance of Sicily and Peter III of Aragon’s wife placed the first stone for the construction of the church dedicated to Beata Maria di Montalto.  The building, in a gothic and Romanesque style, was destroyed during the earthquake of 1908 and rebuilt twice. In order to remember the sacred and historical importance of the building, this story is represented by one of the animated clock scenes showing statues in motion on the Cathedral bell tower, which recalls the flight of the white dove on the hill. 

During the nights of the Sicilian Vespers, when the forces from Messina lost the majority of their members, from Caperrina Hill, two women—Dina and Clarenza—bravely defended the city from the enemies. The two heroines are also represented in one of the animated statue scenes of the bell tower.