Maria was born in Alimena, in the province of Palermo, the daughter of school inspector Gaetano Messina and Gaetana Valenza Trajna, descendant of a baronial family of Prizzi.
Altogether, Maria Messina produced various collections of novellas, five novels, and a selection of children's literature, which gave her notable prestige.
She lived for many years in Mistretta, a small town in the province of Messina, in the heart of the Nebrodi Mountains, where many of her stories are set.
[2] What is more, one of her best-known novels, La casa nel vicolo, marked a turning point in Messina's writing, toward the use of psychological conditions.
[6] Then in 2017 her works have returned to bookstores thanks to Salvatore Asaro,[7] who had her novels Alla deriva, with a preface by the writer Elena Stancanelli, Le pause della vita, Primavera senza sole and Un fiore che non fiorì reprinted by the publisher Edizioni Croce.
The Progetto Mistretta cultural association founded the Maria Messina Prize for literature in her honor, through its journal Il Centro Storico, in 2003.