Italy's Ministry of Public Works said that it would decide by October on a pounds six trillion lire project to build a road and rail suspension bridge over the Strait of Messina, which separates the mainland from the largest island in the Mediterrenean. Linking the Strait has been a recurring topic for more than 30 years, and a pipe dream of past centuries for invaders of Sicily including, it is said, the ancient Romans. At present , cars and trains are carried across by ferry, and although the crossing is just a few miles, the journey, especially due to long queues, can seem interminable. The present project is the latest but most promising to surface since a 1971 law declared that the building of a bridge was of national interest. This will not only examine what effect the bridge would have on the environment and the economy, but what would be the consequences if it is not built.
Nothing is official, but the mood is encouraging.
In the project's favour is the fact that someone has decided to seriously examine it in the first place. It would require eight years to complete, but because of the size of the cost, opponents claim that it would provide a field day for the Mafia. Those opposed include Italy's Green party , the hardline Refounded Communists, and the Legambiente or Environmental League. The churning Strait of Messina has been a focus of interest since the days of Greek mythology, which maintained that it was guarded on either side by the sea monsters Scylla and Charybdis. The latter was supposed to have sunk ships through a whirlpool effect caused by its continual swallowing and regurgitating of the waters, while Scylla, a six-headed ogre laying in wait on the mainland side, seized sailors and ate them.