A Bridge Too Far: Messina Link Revival Stirs Southern Hopes

For more than 2,000 years, the dream of linking Sicily to the Italian mainland has been an obsessive ambition, one that began with the Romans. This week, according to the Guardian, officials have revived the plan to build a structure over the Strait of Messina, despite claims that it is unworkable and protests from local communities.

The Guardian's report, published on Saturday, notes that the strait separates the Mediterranean's largest island from the toe of the Italian boot. The latest revival of the project, which has been proposed and shelved repeatedly over the centuries, comes amid renewed political interest in a scheme that has always divided engineers, environmentalists and the people who live on either shore.