By Matija Šerić

The Italian government, led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, gave the green light for the construction of the Messina Bridge on August 6. This could finally realize a dream pursued by many generations of Italians: a bridge connecting Sicily with Calabria, and thus with the rest of the Italian Republic. If completed, it would be the largest infrastructure project in the West, as triumphantly declared by Italian Minister of Transport Matteo Salvini. A land connection between Sicily and the Italian mainland would not only reshape Italy’s internal landscape but also alter the geopolitical picture of the Mediterranean. Despite some vocal opposition, the potential bridge could bring changes of revolutionary magnitude.

A History Full of Unrealized Ideas

The idea of a bridge across the Strait of Messina has a long history, stretching back to antiquity. Even the Romans conceived plans to connect the Calabrian and Sicilian coasts using barrels and ships. This idea was first proposed by the Roman scholar Pliny the Elder in the 1st century. Due to the technical complexity of such a project, the bridge was never realized—especially because maritime traffic in the Mediterranean primarily ran north-south, rather than east-west along the bridge’s proposed path.

The great conqueror Charlemagne in the 9th century was fascinated by the idea of linking Calabria and Sicily through a series of bridges, and similar plans persisted all the way to Italy’s unification in the 19th century.

Since then, the Italian government has repeatedly attempted to present a viable plan for a Messina Bridge or Tunnel. Serious studies only began in the 1990s, envisioning a suspension bridge that would allow both road and rail connections. Governments under Silvio Berlusconi in the early 21st century failed to implement the project due to extremely high construction costs, questionable traffic profitability, fears of enriching mafia organizations like Cosa Nostra and ’Ndrangheta, and other environmental concerns.

Meloni Aims to Make History

The current attempt under Giorgia Meloni appears to be the most concrete. By spring 2023, the Prime Minister, from the right-wing populist Brothers of Italy party (sometimes accused of radicalism), and her colorful Minister of Transport Matteo Salvini gave approval to revive the old project, getting things moving. Earlier this month, the government made the final decision to start construction. Specifically, on August 6, the Interministerial Committee for Strategic Public Investments approved the project, which astonishes with its grand scale.

Preliminary work around the bridge could begin between late September and early October this year, immediately after approval from the Italian Court of Auditors, while the start of actual construction is expected next year. Despite bureaucratic hurdles, the bridge, according to Salvini, should be completed between 2032 and 2033. If realized, Meloni will go down in history as the politician who accomplished a dream that others unsuccessfully tried to achieve for two millennia.

The World’s Longest Suspension Bridge

Technical Features of the Bridge

“From a technical standpoint, this is an absolutely fascinating engineering project,” Salvini said—and he is right. The bridge is planned to be 3.66 km long and situated 382.6 meters above the surface of the Strait of Messina. It will have six traffic lanes (three in each direction), two emergency lanes, and a double-track railway. The bridge is expected to handle up to 6,000 cars per hour and 200 trains daily.

Thanks to this monumental structure, travel across the Strait of Messina would decrease from 100 minutes by ferry to just 10 minutes by car. For trains, the bridge would shorten travel time by about two hours, replacing ferry boarding and crossing with a direct rail journey, making travel between Sicily and mainland Italy significantly faster and more efficient.

Potentially the World’s Longest Bridge

If completed, the Messina Bridge will be the longest permanent suspension bridge in the world at 3,666 meters. Currently, the three longest suspension bridges are Turkey’s 1915 Çanakkale Bridge (2,023 m), Japan’s Akashi Kaikyo Bridge (1,991 m), and China’s Yangsigang Bridge over the Yangtze River. It is therefore not surprising that the project’s estimated cost is a staggering €13.5 billion—roughly equivalent to the nominal GDP of countries like the Republic of Congo or the Bahamas. The bridge is planned to be fully financed from the Italian state budget. The project has been assigned to a consortium led by the Italian infrastructure company Webuild, which originally won the tender for the bridge back in 2006 before the project was later canceled.