Il bridge over the Strait of Messina there will be, but in a few years and it will be a green work. This was stated by the Minister of Infrastructure, Matteo Salvini, on the sidelines of his visit to the motorcycle show (EICMA) at the fair in Milan Rho. The new Meloni government seems to have put the project of the bridge that will connect Sicilia e Calabria as a priority. Already last April the former Minister of Infrastructure, Enrico Giovannini, he had instructed RFI (Rete Ferroviaria Italiana) to carry out a new feasibility study of the bridge. This however should be delivered no earlier than August 2023. Minister Salvini is also determined to ask the EU for funds to finance the construction of what should be the longest suspension bridge in the world (About 3,66 km). It is in fact a titanic challenge, since the construction of the bridge is far from simple and involves a series of risks, first of all the geological one.
The bridge over the years: from the Romans to the Kingdom of Italy
Over the centuries (or rather millennia) many have tried to build a bridge that connected Sicily with Calabria. The only real "bridge" ever built, if we can say so, was the one built by Romans at the time of Punic wars (250 BC). The Greek geographer Strabo e Pliny the Elder they narrated about how the Roman consul Lucius Caecilius Metellus, after the victory over the Carthaginians in Palermo, he built a bridge made of boats and barrels in order to pass the 140 elephants captured in battle towards the Peninsula and thus take them to Rome. Considering that the First Punic War was fought almost two centuries before the birth of Strabo and Pliny the Elder, the story of the first bridge over the Strait of Messina remains more a myth what a historical fact.
During the Middle Ages it is Charlemagne, both Robert Guiscard they thought about building the bridge. The project was however abandoned due to excessive costs and particular environmental conditions. The king of the Two Sicilies, Ferdinand II of Bourbon, tried to have the bridge built in 1840, but he too had to abandon the idea for the same reasons as the previous rulers. Even with the advent of the Kingdom of Italy the idea of the bridge over the strait was repeated several times. The first was a project by the Minister of Public Works Jacini, in 1866. In 1870 it was even thought of building one underwater gallery long 22 km. In 1883 a project for a suspension bridge a 5 spans. The devastating Messina earthquake of the 1908 stopped every other project and in 1909 one was carried out geological study of the area. In 1921 there was talk of uniting the two regions, but with an underwater tunnel.
From the postwar period to today
In 1952 the American engineer David B. Steinman made the project for a 2 pier bridge, tall 220 meters above sea level e 120 meters underwater. The project also included a central light beyond 1500 meters. In 1955 the "Messina Bridge group spa” (renamed “Strait of Messina spa" In 1981). In the same year the Region of Sicily had a study carried out to evaluate the seismicity of the area. In 1969, theANAS held a competition to find a solid project for the construction of the bridge. Despite the 100 projects presented, was a hole in the water. In 1981 the company "Stretto di Messina spa" proposed a project that reached the preliminary stage in 2003, but was then put out for tender. In the 2001 election challenge, the candidates Rutelli e Berlusconi they promised the construction of the bridge, but without a follow-up.
In 2008 Berlusconi relaunched with presentation of the preliminary project of the bridge over the Strait of Messina (completed in 2010). The following year, a motion presented by IDV (approved with 284 votes in favor and 1 against) stopped the project. The next one Monti government, then declared his dry "no" to the construction of the bridge. In November 2015, the former premier Matteo Renzi once again set up the proposal to unite Messina and Reggio Calabria, but without ever putting it into practice.
Bridge over the Strait of Messina: will it be the right time?
Today, with the arrival of the Meloni government, the bridge over the Strait of Messina is back at the center of the political debate. The new majority will have to deal with various problems. Among these are the seismicity of the territory and the fact that Sicily moves away from Calabria by 1 cm per year. Although engineering has made great strides in recent years and build on areas with high seismicity is possible (Japan docet), it will be necessary to carry out in-depth studies before building a work of this size. Minister Salvini would like to focus on "Genoa model” (i.e. the rapid reconstruction, as happened for the new one Morandi Bridge after the collapse of 2018). However, it is not clear whether this "model" can also be applied to the Bridge over the Strait.
From an economic point of view, the expected costs for its construction are also around 6,54 billion euros. According to a study by the Sicily region (May 2021), entitled "Estimation of the costs of the insularity of Sicily”, This is the same amount that the region spends every year for its insularity. The Bridge over the Strait could also serve to reduce this type of cost, but it would take tens of years before it is built. Unfortunately thisghost work, from 1981 to today, has already cost the Italians more than one billion euros (between feasibility studies, projects, penalties, etc.) and its effective realization still seems to be far away. Over the years many have made promises on the bridge over the Strait of Messina. However, today this great engineering work remains (and probably will continue to be) only a mythological figure, a gigantic chimera among Scilla e Charybdis.
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