Italy

Italy Approves World's Longest Suspension Bridge Project

Published AUG 7 2025

Story

Above: The site of the future Strait of Messina Bridge, in Torre Faro, Italy, on Aug, 7, 2025. Image credit: Valeria Ferraro/Anadolu/Getty Images

The Facts

Italy gave final approval on Wednesday for a €13.5 billion ($15.7 billion) project to build the world's largest suspension bridge across the Strait of Messina, which would connect the island of Sicily to the region of Calabria on the Italian mainland.
BBC News
Daily Mail
The Interministerial Committee for Economic Planning and Sustainable Development approved the bridge in a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. The design and build contract was awarded to the Eurolink consortium, led by the Italian construction company Webuild.
Reuters
The Telegraph
Government of Italy
The bridge will stretch 3,666 meters (12,027 feet), featuring a 3,300-meter suspended central span supported by two 399-meter-tall towers, and accommodate three lanes of traffic in each direction, plus an emergency lane, two service lanes and two railway tracks with sidewalks.
Webuild Worldwide
Government of Italy
Webuild claims that the bridge, which will be open all year round, will have a maximum operating capacity of 6,000 vehicles per hour and up to 200 trains per day, connected to the bridge via 40 kilometers (24.8 miles) of rail and road links.
Webuild Worldwide
Government of Italy
According to the Ministry of Transport, construction is expected to begin by the end of 2025, pending validation by the Court of Auditors, and take place over three phases, with completion scheduled for 2032.
Government of Italy
BBC News
The Italian government plans to classify the investment as military expenditure to reach NATO's target of 5% of gross domestic product (GDP) for defense spending, which allows members to dedicate 1.5% of GDP to strategic infrastructure and industrial projects.
EuroNews
Daily Mail
NATO
CGIL

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The Spin

Pro-government narrative

The Strait of Messina bridge is a transformative investment that will finally connect Sicily to mainland Italy. In the process, the project will create new modern infrastructure across southern Italy and Sicily, bringing economic development to some of the nation's poorest regions, while delivering critical infrastructure in service to the national interest.

Government of Italy

Government-critical narrative

The government's fixation with the Strait of Messina bridge disastrously misuses state resources while overlooking the real needs of southern Italy. Rather than funding grandiose vanity projects, the government should instead finalize the myriad of underfunded infrastructure initiatives that would make a real difference to everyday people's lives.