Italian Government’s Plan for Bridge to Sicily Blocked by Court

The Court of Auditors rejected the project, without explaining its reasons, after the bridge received approval from the government on Aug. 6.

A digital rendering of the proposed Straits of Messina Bridge, Italy, which was approved on Aug. 6, 2025. Webuild – Eurolink Image Library via AP

An Italian court rejected the government’s plan to build a huge bridge connecting the island of Sicily to the mainland on Oct. 29.

The building of the huge bridge across the Straight of Messina is a key part of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s goals for the national government.

However, the Court of Auditors, which has a dual role of financial control and jurisdiction in public accounting, refused to sign off on the 13.5 billion euro ($15.6 billion) structure, publishing a brief statement of their decision but not giving their reasoning for the rejection.

In a later statement, they stated that it pertained to “the strictly legal aspects of the CIPESS (Interministerial Committee for Economic Planning and Sustainable Development) resolution regarding the economic and financial plan” for the construction of the bridge, noting that it was not making an assessment of its “suitability or merit.”

“Respect for legitimacy is an essential prerequisite for the regularity of public spending, the protection of which is entrusted by the Constitution to the Court of Auditors,” the statement reads. “Rulings and decisions of the Court of Auditors are certainly not immune from criticism, which, however, must be conducted in a context of respect for the work of the magistrates.”

The court’s full reasoning will be made public within 30 days.

Meloni immediately lambasted the ruling, calling it “an intolerable overreach” and vowing to go ahead with the project.

“The failure by the Court of Auditors to register the CIPESS resolution concerning the Strait Bridge is yet another act of encroachment on the jurisdiction over the choices of the Government and Parliament,” she wrote on X.

“On a technical level, the ministries concerned and the Presidency of the Council have provided timely responses to all the observations raised for today’s meeting; to get an idea of the pettiness, one of the criticisms concerned the transmission of voluminous documents via links, as if the accounting judges were unaware of the existence of computers.”

Transport Minister and Deputy Premier Matteo Salvini—the Strait of Messina Bridge project’s main sponsor—also criticized the decision, describing it as a “serious blow to the country” and a “political choice rather than a calm technical judgment,” according to a translation on X.

“We are determined to pursue all possible avenues to start the works. We move forward,” he said.

The court’s rejection doesn’t completely bar the project from going ahead but could cause long delays and possibly force the government into a new vote to override the court’s objections.

A bridge spanning the strait, which separates the island of Sicily from Calabria on the Italian mainland, has been an ambition since the age of the Roman Republic.

In more recent years, the Strait of Messina Bridge has been approved and canceled multiple times since the Italian government solicited proposals in 1969.

Meloni’s administration revived the plan in 2023, and it received government approval on Aug. 6.

The project has been widely debated over the years because of concerns over earthquakes, the cost, and the threat of the Sicilian and Calabrian mafias siphoning money out of the project.

Preliminary work was expected to start this fall, with construction to begin next year, with an envisioned completion date of between 2032 and 2033.

The structure would be 2.3 miles long, breaking the record for the longest single span currently held by Turkey’s 1915 Canakkale Bridge, which connects Europe and Asia across the Dardanelles and was completed in 2022. The 1915 in its name is a reference to the year of Turkish victory over British, French, Australian, and New Zealand forces in the Battle of Gallipoli—which is near Canakkale—during World War I.

Chris Summers and The Associated Press contributed to this report.