** As Italy moves to realize the long-envisioned bridge connecting Calabria and Sicily, Deputy Prime Minister and Infrastructure Minister Matteo Salvini invoked its legendary origins, stating: “We lack scientific evidence, but history records only two crossings of the Strait without ferries: first in 250 B.C., when Lucius Caecilius Metellus traversed it with 100 elephants via a barrel bridge, as noted by historian Strabo; and second, by Saint Francis of Paola on his cloak.”
The ambition to link the two regions predates Italy’s unification. Initial concepts emerged during the Punic Wars, with Charlemagne later contemplating the endeavor. In 1840, Ferdinand II of Bourbon, King of the Two Sicilies, commissioned a feasibility study but abandoned plans due to prohibitive costs.
After Italian unification in 1861, Public Works Minister Stefano Jacini ordered a study for a metal bridge in 1866, yet no progress followed. Subsequent proposals stalled until the devastating 1908 Messina earthquake highlighted seismic risks, shelving the project for decades. Fascist Italy revived the idea, but plans were again archived.
Post-World War II, the newborn Republic reignited interest. An international design competition in 1969 drew 143 submissions, with the state allocating 3.2 billion lire for preliminary studies. Winning concepts included submerged tunnels and multi-span suspension bridges. The Messina Strait Company (Stretto di Messina Spa), established in 1981, took charge of design.
By 1985, Prime Minister Bettino Craxi announced the bridge’s construction after approving a single-span suspension design. However, the Tangentopoli corruption scandal in 1992 halted progress. A decade later, Silvio Berlusconi’s government restarted the project. In 2005, Impregilo won the €3.88 billion construction bid, signing a contract in 2006.
Berlusconi’s 2006 electoral defeat led to Prime Minister Romano Prodi’s government freezing the “useless and harmful” project. Berlusconi’s return in 2008 revived plans briefly, but the sovereign debt crisis and Mario Monti’s 2011 technocratic government canceled the bridge, liquidating the Messina Strait Company.
Now, under Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s administration, the project has been resurrected, with Salvini as its foremost advocate.
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