The bridge: an idea with a long history
The Strait of Messina Bridge (Ponte sullo stretto di Messina in Italian) is a projected suspension bridge across the Strait of Messina. With a length of about 3.6 km, it would be the longest suspension bridge globally (see the List of longest suspension bridge spans).
The idea of building a bridge connecting continental Italy to the island of Sicily goes back to ancient times, for the favourable configuration of the land and sea. Already the Romans considered building a bridge joining the regions of Calabria and Sicily made of boats and barrels (it was a usual practice in the past to build pontoon bridges, although of limited length), with a plan that was developed by Pliny the Elder, but then the idea was abandoned as such a bridge would have impeded the naval traffic across strait in the North-South direction.
According to Italian press, the idea of crossing the strait with a bridge seems to have been considered by the French Emperor Charlemagne in the IX century (Luigi La Spina, "Il Ponte sullo Stretto lungo un illusione", La Stampa, 18 Sept 1999, p. 11).
More recently, in 1870, the Italian engineer Carlo Alberto Navone proposed the idea of a tunnel connecting Calabria and Sicily. A detailed project was presented, which is described here (in Italian). Few years later, the then Italian Minister of Public Works (who later was nominated Prime Minister) Giuseppe Zanardelli supported the idea of the bridge. He publicly stated "Sopra i flutti o sotto i flutti la Sicilia sia unita al continente" ("Above or beneath the waves, Sicily shall be united with the mainland"), thus considering the alternative of the tunnel. Ideas were abandoned after the disastrous earthquake of Messina in 1908.
In 1953, the idea was revived by bridge builder David B. Steinman, with a plan to build a bridge that crossed the strait using two 220 m (720 ft) towers sunk in 120 m (390 ft) deep waters. In 1969, an international call for ideas (link in Italian) for the design of the bridge was issued by the Italian Ministry of Public Works. 143 projects were presented. In the 1970s, feasibility studies were undertaken by the state railways, leading to the creation of a private company with responsibility for planning the crossing. In the 1980s, the Messina Strait Company (see also here) was created with public funds. Detailed plans followed in the 1990s which concluded that the optimal solution would be a suspension bridge. A preliminary design was then approved by the High Council of Public Works (Consiglio Superiore dei Lavori Pubblici). In 2003, the preliminary project was put out for international tender. After the contract was awarded to the Eurolink consortium (as General Contractor), the Italian Government suspended the procedure in 2006 and revived it in 2008. The project was finalized between 2010 and 2011 by the Danish company COWI on behalf of the General Contractor. In 2013 the project was again suspended by the Italian Government for the difficult financial situation. The project was revived in 2003 and the final design updated by COWI again in 2023–2024. In 2025 the Italian parliament gave final approval to the project, allowing the preparation of the executive project to start and the construction of the bridge to commence.
An overview of the history of design projects for the Strait of Messina bridge is given here.
The final project
The final project in Italy represents one of the design stages in the fields of architecture and civil engineering, and in particular, it is the second of the stages into which an important project and its drafting are commonly divided.
The final project is “drawn up on the basis of the guidelines of the approved preliminary project and of what emerged during any joint services conference; it contains all the elements necessary for obtaining the required permits, for verifying urban planning compliance, or for other equivalent acts.”
The final project outlines the fundamental aspects of the executive project.
It includes the following documents:
- general report;
- technical reports such as geological, geotechnical, hydrogeological, hydraulic, archaeological, features;
- topographical surveys and a detailed study of urban integration;
- graphic drawings;
- environmental impact study, where required by current regulations, or environmental feasibility study;
- preliminary calculations for structures and systems;
- descriptive and performance specifications of technical elements;
- inventory and plan for resolving interferences;
- land acquisition plan (only if new areas must be acquired for the project);
- list of unit prices and any related analyses;
- detailed cost estimate;
- updated document containing initial guidelines and provisions for drafting safety plans;
- financial summary indicating safety costs based on the aforementioned document.
These documents may be subject to changes and additions by reasoned decision of the project manager.
If the project serves as the basis for a tender, instead of the descriptive and performance specifications, it includes a special tender specification and a draft contract, which also specify the location and timeframe for preparing the executive project.
Please note that the new Italian Public Contracts Code, Decreto Legislativo 36/2023, which replaced the previous Codice dei Contratti (D. Lgs. 50/2016), simplifies the levels of design for public works by establishing only two levels of project design:
- Progetto di fattibilità tecnico-economica (Technical-economic feasibility project)
- Progetto esecutivo (Executive project) BibLus+2Lavoripubblici+2
The final project (“progetto definitivo”) used to be the intermediate stage between the preliminary/feasibility stage and the executive stage. But with the reform, it has been effectively removed as a distinct required stage in many cases; its elements are redistributed into the two remaining levels.
The final project of the Strait of Messina Bridge
To get an introduction to the final project of the Strait of Messina Bridge see:
and this technical report:
Page under construction - Last modified on Oct 10, 2025
(The heading picture of this web page (by Kasper2006, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons) shows a comparison of Messina Bridge tower height with the height of the pylon of Messina (drawing of the bridge on a 3D drawing of the territory).
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