€13.5bn allocated for 10-year project to build longest single-span bridge in the world across the Strait of Messina
The Italian government has given the final approval for the construction of a multibillion-euro bridge linking Sicily to the mainland, a project that has been a topic of debate since at least the late 1960s but has been held back by a litany of concerns, including the huge cost, seismic risks and mafia infiltration.
Giorgia Meloni’s rightwing government has set aside €13.5bn to build what would be the longest single-span bridge in the world. A dream of Italy’s late former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi and revived soon after Meloni’s government came to power in 2022, the 3.7km bridge and its surrounding facilities are expected to take 10 years to build.
Cars, trains and foot passengers currently cross the Strait of Messina, between the Sicilian city of the same name and Villa San Giovanni in Calabria, by ferry – a journey that takes about 30 minutes.
The green light for the bridge, which the government argues would give a much-needed economic boost to Italy’s poorer south, was given by an inter-ministerial committee on Wednesday, said the transport minister, Matteo Salvini, who is also the project’s chief backer. Salvini described it as “a metro over the strait”.
