In the early morning of December 28, 1908 a 30 to 42 seconds long earthquake with a reconstructed magnitude of 6.7-7.2 hit the Italian cities of Messina and Reggio Calabria.implified tectonic settings of South Italy and the intensity of the December 1908 earthquake after the modified Mercalli scale (data from INGV site). In this model the earthquakes of Calabria and Sicily are mostly associated with a rift valley formed by the rollback of the Ionian Sea.