Bridge linking Sicily to mainland gets government’s green light after 50 years

After decades in the planning, the Italian government this week finally approved the start of construction on what it claims will be the world’s longest single-span suspension bridge.

The Strait of Messina Bridge will link Sicily to mainland Italy across a 3-kilometre stretch. Estimated at €13.5 billion, the project will be fully publicly funded, with costs already allocated in the 2024 and 2025 budgets, according to NPR.

First approved in 1971, the plan has been scrapped and revived multiple times due to financial and practical concerns, most recently relaunched in 2022. Construction is set to begin in May 2026 and finish by 2032.

Military designation

Italy currently spends just 1.49% of GDP on defence, among the lowest in the NATO alliance. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government has revived the long-discussed bridge — once imagined by Mussolini and later backed by Silvio Berlusconi — as a symbol of national ambition and strategic relevance.

Rome is promoting the bridge as strategically important, seeking to include it in NATO’s new defence spending goals — part of a push to meet the alliance’s ambitious 5% of GDP target by 2035. But Politico reports the proposal to classify the bridge as a military asset is facing resistance both at home and in NATO circles. A senior EU official in Brussels said the project is not on NATO’s list of military mobility priorities.

Environmental considerations

The site lies in a seismically active zone. Yet Lamya Amleh, a structural engineering researcher at Toronto Metropolitan University, notes that countries like Japan have successfully built major bridges in earthquake-prone regions — citing the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge — and Türkiye’s record-breaking 1915 Çanakkale Bridge. “The risk doesn’t go away, but it can be managed,” she said. “It must be addressed from design through the bridge’s life cycle.”

Wind and corrosion pose additional challenges. “Salty air accelerates material degradation, so durability and maintenance must be planned in,” Amleh told the publication.

By Nazrin Sadigova