Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government issued a decree on Thursday to revive an old project to build a 3.2-kilometer bridge linking Sicily to the mainland, dreams of which date back to the Roman era nearly <>,<> years ago.
Italy's right-wing government sees the bridge as a gateway to bolster the country's influence in the region and revive the economy in poorer southern regions, despite doubts about the viability of the multi-billion euro project.
"After 50 years of talks, this government has approved the construction of the bridge linking Sicily with the rest of Italy and Europe," said Italian Transport Minister Matteo Salvini, hailing this "historic day."
The idea of the bridge dates back to the ancient Romans, but attempts to revive the project have repeatedly failed due to the high cost and challenge of constructing a structure linking the city of Messina in Sicily to Calabria in the far south of the Italian peninsula in an earthquake-prone region.
Italy is reviving a plan to build record suspension bridge from Calabria to Sicily 👇🏻https://t.co/krJIVcFUZJ pic.twitter.com/LGUvRnS6qR
— Chiara Albanese (@chiaraalbanese) March 17, 2023
If the bridge is constructed, cargo ships from Asia via the Suez Canal could dock in Sicily and then transport goods in high-speed trains to the rest of Europe, but critics of the project say the money is best spent on improving train services and squalid roads within Sicily and Calabria.
The Italian parliament has two months to turn the decree into law. Under the plan, an executive project will be approved by July 31, 2024, and construction will begin by the end of the year, according to local media.
Previous attempts
Several Italian governments have been in discussions about the El Ponte Solo Stritto project for decades.
The last of these discussions was in the first decade of the 21st century, when the government of then-Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, whose Forza Italia party belongs to the ruling coalition, supported the construction of the bridge. At the time, the plan was to start construction in 2006 and finish by 2012.
The bridge will be about 3 times the length of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and more than a thousand meters longer than the Akashi Kaikyu Bridge in Japan, which currently holds the title of the longest suspension bridge in the world.
The dreams of a "strait bridge" date back to 252 BC, when the Roman consul and military commander Metelus transported war-trained elephants from Carthage to the mainland on barrels that were tied together to form rafts, according to Roman historian Pliny the Elder.