A bridge too far? Why link to Sicily is still a dream despite 2,000 years of plans

Original article by Lorenzo Tondo in Torre Faro, Messina

For more than 2,000 years, it has been an obsessive dream: a plan to link the Mediterranean Sea’s largest island to mainland Italy. It began with the Romans, who, according to Pliny the Elder, built a bridge of boats and barrels across the strait of Messina in 251BC to transport 140 war elephants captured from the Carthaginians.

Centuries later, the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini embraced the same vision, followed by rightwing prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who made the bridge a flagship project. Then, in 2022, after being appointed Italy’s infrastructure minister, Matteo Salvini revived the mythic ambition, claiming that the ferry crossings “cost people more in a year than it would cost to build the bridge”.

Since then, however, there have been more promises than action. Salvini’s stated goal of breaking ground on the €13.5bn project in 2024 slipped to early 2025 and then early 2026. In February, with opponents openly mocking the repeated delays, the leader of the far-right Lega insisted construction would finally begin by this summer.

But in Torre Faro, the neighbourhood on Sicily’s north-eastern tip where work is supposedly due to begin, there is still no sign of construction. In streets lined with homes earmarked for expropriation, families are still there.

“You’re surprised I’m so unfazed. Why should I worry?” said Mariolina De Francesco, a 76-year-old retired university lecturer whose villa is among more than 400 properties that have been slated for compulsory purchase. “If they didn’t build the bridge before, why would they now? It’s all talk. They’ll never build it.”

According to the official plans, the bridge from Torre Faro to Villa San Giovanni in Calabria would be the world’s longest suspension bridge, with a central span – the distance between the two main supporting towers – of 3.3km. Its deck would carry six traffic lanes, two service lanes and two railway tracks. No suspension bridge with a comparable span exists. (The closest is Japan’s Minami Bisan-Seto Bridge, opened in 1988, with a main span of 1.1km.)

The delays in construction have been driven by various mounting obstacles: concerns raised by public bodies over the project’s environmental impact, a corruption investigation by prosecutors in Rome, an intervention by Italy’s court of auditors, which is scrutinising its cost, and a long series of requirements filed by Italy’s Higher Council of Public Works.

In interviews with the Guardian, leading engineers, seismologists and environmental experts all expressed scepticism that the dream of the bridge would ever become reality.

“You might be able to build it,” said Antonino Risitano, a former dean of engineering at the University of Catania. “But you cannot guarantee its long-term safety.” Risitano said there was no technology currently available to test suspension cables of that size and length for a single-span bridge. “If you cannot test the suspension cables, you cannot build it. Given today’s scientific knowledge, the current project is not technically feasible.”

Webuild, which is leading the Eurolink consortium contracted to design and build the infrastructure, declined to comment but said the issues raised by Risitano had already been addressed and refuted in a 2025 technical report by the Strait of Messina company.

The document said Risitano’s concerns about the main suspension cables were not supported by the historical performance of suspension bridges worldwide. It also noted that full-scale fatigue testing of main suspension cables is not standard engineering practice.

One of the other big concerns over the bridge is that it would be strikingly vulnerable to seismic activity traversing the strait of Messina, one of Europe’s most tectonically active regions.

“More than 5,000 low-magnitude earthquakes have been recorded within a 40km radius over the past 40 years,” said Carlo Doglioni, one of Italy’s leading geologists and former president of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology. “The strait is also slowly widening, with Sicily and Calabria drifting 2-3mm apart each year.”

The area is crossed by three fault systems capable of producing magnitude 7 or greater earthquakes, like the one that hit Messina in 1908, killing more than 80,000 people. “Although it is impossible to predict when, the region will inevitably experience further major earthquakes,” said Doglioni.

“An earthquake of the magnitude expected here could affect not only the tower foundations but also the cable anchor blocks,” said Federico Massimo Mazzolani, professor emeritus of structural engineering at the University of Naples Federico II. “Vertical ground motion could reduce cable tension and destabilise the bridge, while horizontal shaking could permanently rotate a tower foundation, leaving the structure damaged and potentially unusable.”

Webuild insists “the bridge has been designed to withstand extreme conditions”. They say seismic studies show it would remain structurally safe during earthquakes of up to magnitude 7.1. Pietro Ciucci, chief executive of the Strait of Messina company, said the bridge’s foundations had been positioned to avoid active faults.

Tremors aside, opposition to the bridge is also building on other fronts. Last October, Italy’s court of auditors blocked the project, saying the government had failed to demonstrate its financial sustainability and ordering revised cost estimates before it could proceed.

In June, Rome prosecutors opened a corruption investigation into allegations that a lawyer and a businessman sought to influence court of auditors judges by promising support for future public appointments in exchange for approval of the project. The businessman is a former board member of Strait of Messina plc, the Italian state-owned company responsible for managing the bridge’s design, construction, and operation.

Both men deny any wrongdoing and rejected the allegations, saying they never sought to influence the court or offered favours in return for decisions.

The court of auditors also raised concerns about compliance with EU environmental rules. The Strait of Messina company insists that environmental protection and biodiversity are “at the heart of the project”. But, once again, experts disagree. The WWF argues the bridge would threaten the strait of Messina, a vital migration corridor for millions of birds and marine mammals.

“The strait of Messina is one of the world’s 28 most important bird migration routes,” says Gaetano Benedetto, WWF Italy’s vice-president. “A 2006 study commissioned by the bridge company estimated that 4.3 million birds crossed the proposed bridge corridor in just six weeks of spring migration.”

In early August, Italy’s Higher Council of Public Works said the bridge could only go ahead if the government addressed more than 100 requirements, with particular attention to seismic risk and the testing of construction materials – a process likely to force designers to substantially rewrite the project.

Even greater than the risk of the bridge being built, however, is the risk it will be started and abandoned halfway through, leaving the landscape permanently scarred, added Benedetto. That fear is shared by the founders of the No Ponte Capo Peloro campaign.

“I’m convinced the bridge will never be built,” said Mariella Valbruzzi, who has campaigned against the project for a decade with her husband, Daniele Ialacqua. “What worries me is that work on the roads and viaducts could begin anyway, leaving this protected landscape buried under concrete, with or without the bridge.”

Webuild says the project would generate more than €23bn for Italy’s economy, more than €10.3bn in tax revenue and more than 100,000 direct and indirect jobs.

Opposition parties argue the money would be better spent upgrading Sicily’s ageing road and rail network, among the weakest in Europe. Travelling the 265km between Syracuse and Trapani by rail takes 11 to 14 hours and usually requires three changes – enough time to fly from Rome to New York and clear passport control.

Since Roberto Vannacci, a far-right former army general, left Salvini’s League to launch his own party, the bridge project has become increasingly tied to the infrastructure minister’s political fortunes. With Lega slipping in the polls and Vannacci’s new party rising, it has taken on added significance for Salvini. An EMG survey puts Futuro Nazionale (National Future) on 7.2%, just 0.5 percentage points behind Lega, fuelling speculation that Salvini’s leadership within the rightwing coalition could come under growing pressure.

“The bridge will never be built. Salvini has failed. He should resign,” said Angelo Bonelli, an MP and leader of the Green-Left Alliance (AVS).

Rosa Cattafi wishes she could be so certain the bridge will never happen. The 66-year-old’s villa is another home earmarked for expropriation. “I bought this house 12 years ago, when the bridge seemed to have been abandoned,” she says. “No one can give me absolute certainty it will never be built. Until it is definitively declared unbuildable, I’ll have to live with that uncertainty.”