J - 22 : The Never Dying Dream of a Bridge

The Bridge over the Messina Straits as approved by the Meloni Government on 6 Aug 2025

A good year ago, the Italian Government under Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni approved the latest iteration of the Messina Straits Bridge project. It is now before Italy's Audit Commission which will or will not approve the project. Wonder how Italy managed go give itself a political structure where a project approved by the Government and Parliament can be challenged... But that is beside this piece today.

Project Scheme of the Messina Bridge seen from the South

If completed, the bridge over the Messina Straits will be the world's longest and highest suspension bridge. With 3'666 meters in length, a longest span of 3'300 m, a hight of 400 m and clearance below the bridge of 76 m it is enourmous. Built over a geological fault line, where the tides of two seas clash, the regular occurrence of devastating earthquakes as the one in Messina in 1908 and wind speeds which would easily flip any ordinary suspension bridge, the project is of incredible complexity. The price tag of EUR 13.5 bn reflects the engineering challenges. Delivery was once scheduled for the early 2030s but this date is way off. I guess 2040 is a more realistic target.

Already the Romans dreamt of having a Bridge linking Sicily permanently to Calabria

The idea of the bridge is millennia old. Roman Admiral Pliny the Elder (23 - 70 AD) who lost his life rescuing people from the eruption of Monte Vesuvio in 79 AD, mentioned it. So did the Greek cartographer Strabo (64 BC - 24 AD). Apparently, Roman Consul Lucius Caecilius Metellus linked Sicily in 251 BC with Italy by using empty oak barrels and wooden planks for his temporary bride. He needed the bridge to bring the 100 elephants he captured from the Carthaginians at Palermo to Rome. They would make a sensational sight for his triumphant entry in Rome.

AI generated Photo from of the Roman Ponton-Barrel Bridge of the Straits of Messina

The possibility of crossing wide bodies of water with ponton bridges was well known in antiquity. When invading Greece in 480 BC, the Persian King of King Xerxes crossed the 1.2 km wide Dardanelles by building a pontoon bridge. His army of over 100'000 men took seven days and nights to cross - including the logistics train the number may have reached 300'000 people. With the bending resulting from the Dardanelles' strong current, the bridge was probably 2 km long (straight line is 1.4 km). Xerxes corps of engineers was experienced in building large structure. And they were lucky. In the 5th century BC, the hills above the Dardanelles were still forested. Today, as we noticed in 2022, no timber is left.

Artist's Impression of Xerxes' 2 km long Ponton Bridge over the Dardanelles in 480 BC.

Xerxes Ponton Bridge was bent due to the strong northern current in the Dardanelles

The Dardanelles are not the Straits of Messina though. The current in the Dardanelles flows steadily from the north. Black Sea water is less salty than Mediterranean water. It thus flows south on top of the heavier water from the Med. In the Straits of Messina the tides of the Tyrrhenian and Ionian Sea clash. Directions of currents change every six hours. That Tyrrhenian water is lighter than Ionian crates dangerous swirls. Anchoring and stabilising a pontoon bridge from the shores is almost impossible. Also, the Straits of Messina are 3.1 km wide compared to the 1.4 km of the Hellespont. If an oak barrel is 1 meter wide and 1.5 meters long, you need 3'100 barrels x 6 for the width = 18'300 barrels or min. 6'000 grown up oaks. There are no big oaks in Sicily or Calabria. Nor were there oak barrels in the Med in 250 BC. Romans and Greeks stored liquids in amphorae. Oak barrels were invented by the Gauls between the 5th and 3rd century BC only. I guess we have to give this story a pass - Si non e vero e bon trovato - as the Italians say.

The Carolingian Empire under Charlemagne around 800 AD - Sicily was not his but controlled by Byzantium and Arab States

The idea of a bridge linking Sicily to Italy continued to fascinate though. Charlemagne, the first ruler of the Carolingian Empire, considered such a bridge to conquer Sicily from Byzantium. Later Norman rulers such as Robert Guiscard and Roger II of Sicily loved the idea as well. It would have linked their kingdom and allowed them to shift their armies back and forth between Arab and Byzantine enemies. But the immense cost and the many practical problems were obstacles nobody could overcome. When southern Italy became Spanish and was propelled into the front line of the war against the Ottomans, the idea was shelved. Spain's funds had to go to the fortification of coastal cities and a large fleet of galleys. A bridge would not provide security. Starshaped fortresses and galleys with guns did.

The Ancient Town of Syracuse was converted by Spain into a modern Fortress (Map 1839)

With the Italian Unification in 1860, the idea was revitalised. A French engineer, Alphonse Oudry, worked on a design for a suspension bridge between 1882 and 1860. Four years later, Italy's minister for public work then commissioned a study for such a bridge - it lead to nowhere. Neither did a proposal from 1870 to build a tunnel under the Straits, nor did the work of several Italian civil engineers in 1921. For Mussolini, Italy's Fascist Dictator, the bridge had a low priority. The construction of a modern navy (Regia Marina) and Airforce and the equipment of his army were more urgent and important.

Alphonse Oudry's Design for a multi-pillar Suspension Bridge over the Messina Straits (1862)

In the Post-War Years, the bridge idea gathered steam again and was seriously analysed. In 1953, the American engineer and experienced suspension bridge builder, David Steinman, was invited by an Italian Steel Consortium to submit a proposal for a suspension bridge. He did so but the financial arrangements were not in place. Further feasability studies by Italy's railways and Italy's industrial holding company IRI in the 1970s and 1980s followed and concluded that the project was feasible indeed.

The Bridge is aerodynamically designed to withstand the strong Winds over the Straits

Eventually, the Berlusconin Government took it up in 2006, but it was cancelled again. Re-approved in 2008, cancelled again in 2013 for lack of funds. In 2023 it was eventually taken up by the Meloni Government who also decided to include its costs into Italy's commitment to lift defence spending to 5% of GDP per year (sic!). The bridge, if ever completed, will have the capacity for 200 trains a day on two tracks and 6'000 vehicles per hour on three lanes in each direction. The cost is estimated at EUR 13.5 bn, 40% for the bridge itself, 60% for local connectins & infrastructure. It is financed by the EU, Italy and a private consortium.

Computer Rendering of the Messina Bridge as seen from the Sicily Side

If you have 15 min, watch this fun video on youtube titled "No completion date - the world's most impossible bridge is back"

https://youtu.be/4kedQ9HQyrg

When we sail through the Straits of Messina in 4 weeks time, there will be nothing to see - work has not started - Italians wait for the word - the "word of the Audit Committee"