«Above the waves or below the waves, Sicily is united to the continent». Already in 1876 the then Minister of Public Works, Giuseppe Zanardellidreamed in courtly tones the Bridge over the Strait. He certainly would not have imagined the exhausting aftermath: one impediment after another, one hundred and forty-nine years later it is still discussed with ardor.
The last braking was particularly sharp. When the start of the works seemed imminent, the Court of Auditors denied the approval of legitimacy to the decisive government resolution. Just as a major referendum battle on justice is announced.
AND Giorgia Melonitherefore, to symbolically connect the two shores: the cyclopean project and the historic reform. Thus, the Prime Minister clarifies: the new rules, which also concern accounting judges, “represent the most appropriate response to an intolerable intrusiveness which will not stop the government’s action”.
The clash between politics and the judiciary
The admirable ringworm clashes with the judicial heat. Every great public work it has its sorrows. It’s not just the Court of Auditors. But still TAR, Council of State and prosecutors. Avalanches of appeals, investigations and opinions. Of course, they often unmask crooks and criminals. Even more frequently, however, they block crucial infrastructures. Not surprisingly, almost always desired by centre-right governments.
Opposition barricade And turbo environmentalistsunited as one man, they stir up and ride. On the other hand: what is more providential, for the anti-modernist left, than so many apocalyptic investigations?
In fact i three musketeers of no regardless they have already filed a complaint on the Bridge as well. Elly Schlein, Angelo Bonelli and Nicola Fratoianni they urge: the funds should also be investigated quickly.
The economic question and the shadow of crime
Yes, whoever kicks out the 13.5 billion needed? The State, assures Matteo SalviniMinister of Infrastructure and standard bearer of the Bridge. Impossible. There must be something fishy behind it.
Not to mention crime: mafia and ‘ndranghetathe magistrates assure, they would have already divided up to the last subcontract. “If we had listened to Bonelli’s relatives, today we wouldn’t have the Autostrada del Sole, the Brennero motorway, the high speed train, the Winter Olympics, the MOSE and the TAV” quips the minister and Northern League leader. «And we would go around on a scooter with Toninelli».
The previous Tav: twenty years of appeals
This is not hyperbole. «Who cares about going from Turin to Lyon!» the brave Danilo, Salvini’s unforgettable predecessor in the Josephite government, exploded in February 2019.
On the high-speed railway line between Italy and France, in those years, the Movement stirred up half of Italy: from Susa Valley in Portopalo. The Tav becomes a symbol of judicial resistance.
Dozens of appeals rain down on the Piedmont Regional Administrative Court and the Council of State: environmental impact, geological risks, illegitimate expropriations. A barrage of suspensions follows. Work stops, starts again and stops again.
It was supposed to be the “construction site of the century”. It will close in eight years. Good to go. Out of 160 kilometers of tunnels, only 45 have been dug: just the 28 percent. It is now scheduled to open to traffic in 2033twenty years after the first excavations.
Florence and the “Mona Lisa” mole
And we continue to dig in the maxi tunnel for the high speed train that will pass underneath Florence. An interminable trial for environmental crimes didn’t help.
The explosive investigations began in 2010. Three years later, both the “Mona Lisa” mole and the underground concrete blocks were seized.
The long-awaited sentence arrived last July: two acquittals, seven prescriptions and a mini sentence. Fifteen years after the investigation. Meanwhile, we continue to dig.
Tap and the environmentalist illusion
Whether by land or sea, there is an objection in any case. See the Tap: the gas pipeline that crosses the Adriatic and brings methane to Melendugno, on the Apulian coast.
During the 2018 electoral campaign, aversion to the Trans Adriatic pipeline becomes another strong point of the Movement.
«With the Five Star government we will block this work in two weeks!» roars Alessandro Di Battistathe Che Guevara of Northern Rome.
The unspeakable environmental disaster looms. In fact, it won’t do any harm. Indeed: it will guarantee us gas in the worst moments of the war between Russia and Ukraine.
A slew of criminal and administrative trials follows. The most explosive one was created by the Lecce prosecutor’s office in 2017.
The supporters of the cause are illustrious and fierce: politicians, environmentalists, singers, actors and writers. From the Apulian governor, Michele Emilianoto the bucolic author of My dear land, Albano Carrisi.
The civil parties are very aggressive: “They will give us billions in compensation” assures the president of Puglia, a former magistrate, who rushed to the courtroom to support the accusations.
There are nineteen defendants, including managers and subcontractors. They are accused of the most atrocious environmental misdeeds: massacres of olive trees, various pollution, scarred landscapes.
Usual script: delays and price increases.
Despite everything, the Tap was still inaugurated in 2020. Five years later, in May 2025, the Lecce court absolves everyone: «The fact does not exist».
The Mose case: costs, investigations, delays
Even the mythological Moses he had a troubled fate. The system of mobile bulkheads, which saved Venice from disastrous floods, was imagined over half a century ago.
The then vice-president of the Council, Gianni De Michelisin 1988 promised: «The end of the works will arrive in 1995, barring small delays».
Meanwhile, the Court of Auditors declares the concession to the consortium illegitimate. There is no “urgency”. And public procurement rules are violated.
Moral: everything blocked, before even starting.
«The principle of competition is a fundamental cornerstone of public works. Instead, in Venice there was little dialectic between the planning and execution phases, with high costs and delays in controls” write the accounting magistrates.
We need a special law to move forward. There first stone arrives in 2003Berlusconi’s year of dominions.
A few years later, the accounting magistrates still denounce: design shortcomings, conflicts of interest, increased costs.
In 2010 they become more expensive: administrative and management irregularities continue. Delays accumulate.
Then, in 2014, the investigation into «Mose system».
Years of investigations, handcuffs and trials follow. The judicial dilemma is: how those were spent 6.4 billion euros?
Meanwhile the Court suspends, checks and procrastinates.
Until April 2022, two years after the inauguration. There is at Palazzo Chigi Giuseppe Conte.
The Ministry of Infrastructure renounces compensation and cancels debts. Too many delays. Whoever had had, who gave gave.
Dams, regasifiers and ports: same scripts
Then drills, regasifiers, wind farms. Or waste-to-energy plants.
That of Santa Palombain Rome, was hit by a barrage of appeals to the TAR and the Council of State.
The first works have begun. Environmentalists, however, announce a new complaint to the European Commission.
TO Genoathe construction site for the Breakwater he left after the Council of State overturned the TAR ruling. Meanwhile, costs are rising 1.3 billion.
While the port of Imperia it remained stagnant for a decade, due to an investigation started in 2012.
The Roman entrepreneur ends up on trial Francesco Bellavista Caltagirone and the former Forzista minister, Claudio Scajola.
Five years later, they were all acquitted.
The open ending
And the Bridge? Whether it is done, said the old Zanardelli, “above the waves or below the waves”.
Instead, nothing.
And to think that we’ve been talking about it since theRoman Empire.
Pliny the Elder tells of a floating connection, made of boats and barrels. It was used to transport one hundred and forty elephants.
They would even have built parapets to prevent the pachyderms from ending up in the sea. The undertaking, apparently, succeeded.
The year was running 251 BC.
