What is the Fata Morgana?

We’ve all seen optical effects in the atmosphere such as a rainbow. But one of the strangest and most famous is the Fata Morgana. It is a vast unusual mirage, which appears over the water in just a few locations scattered around the globe.

It is most noted for its appearance in the Strait of Messina off the coast of Italy. Friar Minasi, an eighteenth century Italian poet, wrote a classic description of the phenomena. It has been described as a town in the sky with beautiful palaces and towers with people walking through the streets.

No one is sure what the mirage reflects, but it probably manifests itself by using multiple distortions of images. This is thought to be the result of distant objects such as cliffs and buildings being magnified and distorted into shapes resembling wondrous castles.