The topos of the struggle between Moors and Christians in the Giants of Messina

The topos of the clash between Moors and Christians emerges where the source of the Giants is connected to the exploits of Roger of Hauteville and the liberation of Messina and, more generally, the south of Italy, from Arab domination. The fact that the Giants were created between the conquest of Tunis (1535) and the Battle of Lepanto (1571), and that the Christian fleet led by Don John of Austria left the port of Messina, certainly influenced the identification of the two giants with the Norman epic, a formidable historical antecedent to the conflict taking place with the Ottomans. Some iconographic documents depict the triumphal entry of Count Roger in Messina, accompanied by Moorish prisoners and their camels, used to carry the spoils of war. The equestrian statues represent, therefore, the two Saracen princes defeated by the Normans who were forced to watch mass being said from the church door on horseback; while the exotic animal is the symbol of the spirit of dishonest and abusive Arabic fiscal practices.