Italy Greenlights $15 Billion Bridge Linking Sicily to Mainland

Pietro Salini, chief executive of the company building the bridge, said it would be ’transformative for the whole country.’

A digital rendering shows a proposed $15 billion bridge linking the Italian mainland with Sicily, across the Straits of Messina, Italy, which was approved on Aug. 6, 2025. Webuild–Eurolink Image Library via AP

The Italian government on Aug. 6 approved the construction of the world’s longest single-span bridge, linking the mainland to the island of Sicily.

The structure, crossing the Straits of Messina, would be 2.3 miles long, breaking the record (for longest single span) currently held by Turkey’s 1915 Canakkale Bridge, which connects Europe and Asia across the Dardanelles.