SAIS Next Europe  « Previous Post | Next Post »  Italy's 'Bridge
to Nowhere'  By Annie Magnus  At a time when the airline
industry is crumbling in Italy, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi
is focusing on other means of connections. He wants to build a
bridge - not that we haven't heard that from politicians before.
But while others eventually say, 'thanks, but no thanks,'
Berlusconi smiles widely and says yes. He has given the go-ahead
to start building the world's longest suspension bridge. It will
be a grandiose national project. It will also be to Italy what
was snubbed in Alaska: a bridge to nowhere.  This one will
stretch more than two miles over the stormy Strait of Messina
and link the toe of the boot-shaped Italian mainland to its
closest island, Sicily. It will connect one poor region to an
even poorer island. But is the project worthwhile?  Supporters
of the idea believe it will help Sicily transport its fruit and
vegetable production to Calabria at a faster and more efficient
pace and thereby help it