Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story:

• Government approval on the Strait of Messina Bridge pushes forward the construction of what would become the world’s longest suspension bridge.
• Believe it or not, Greek mythology’s formidable monsters Scylla and Charybdis played a key role in helping experts understand the geologic patterns of the strait.
• The two-mile bridge will connect mainland Italy to Sicily.

It’s just one step in a two-mile journey, but last year, the Italian government gave approval for the construction of the Strait of Messina Bridge, which will become the world’s longest suspension bridge—technically a hair over two miles in length at 10,827 feet—and will connect mainland Italy with Sicily.

The nearly $16 billion, publicly funded project will span the tricky strait with a suspended bridge deck linked by cables that stretch between two 1,309-foot-tall towers in “the biggest infrastructure project in the West,” accordingto Matteo Salvini, Italy’s Transport minister.

The cables transfer the weight of the roadway deck to the towers—and thus, the ground below them—to ensure the bridge doesn’t require additional supports stationed in the water. The full length of the bridge will be 2.2 miles, two miles of which will be suspended.

Assuming the project gets completed, the bridge will easily best the world’s current longest suspension bridge: the 6,637-foot-long 1915 Canakkale Bridge in Turkey, which was built in 2023.

This bridge (in some form or another) has been discussed in earnest for decades as a tangible construction venture with modern building practices and technologies. But the concept has been around for centuries. Pliny the Elder told a legendabout a temporary bridge transporting war elephants across the strait in 251 B.C. If only Pliny could see how far we’ve come.

“It is a strategic piece of infrastructure for the development of both the Mezzogiorno and the entire nation as well as being of pre-eminent national importance for the completion of trans-European transport networks,” the government wrote in a statement.

The project is not without its political detractors, who largely focus on cost, environmental impact, the removal of 550 homes needed to make room for the project, and concerns over mafia influence (the Italian government has pledged to keep organized crime out of the project). But the project faces some practical hurdles as well.

In an attempt to clear some of those hurdles, a 2023 study publishedin the journal Basin Research, used ancient Greek mythology to help geologists understand the intricate seismic activity in the strait. The mythological monsters Scylla and Charybdis each reigned over one side of the Strait of Messina, forcing sailors to choose between navigating the rocky narrows under Scylla’s watch or attempting to pass Charybdis’s sea-swallowing whirlpool.

In the modern world, science has confirmed that mythology wasn’t too far off—researchers noted that the hard-to-navigate waterway is the result of two fault lines coming together, which causes the zone to be prone to earthquakes and greatly impacts the geology (and therefore the engineering of any potential bridge).

The research team chronicled how the strait has shifted over time, with the seabed dipping between the faults, further stirring up the dynamic channel. The authors wrote in the paper (led by study co-author Rebecca Dorsey) that over time, the fault lines have shifted. “This pattern,” they claimed, “has resulted in tectonic narrowing of the strait through time by inward migration of facing normal faults and rapid mantle-driven uplift.”

“Active fault interactions and strain transfer need to be included in seismic risk analysis,” Dorsey said in a past statement. “This is a shifting, dynamic landscape, and the stakes are high.”

If engineers can vanquish these logistical monsters, the plan calls for six lanes of traffic, an emergency lane, two service lanes, sidewalks, and two rail tracks, ultimately connecting the bridge with 25 miles of new roads and rail lines, three underground train stations (two on the mainland side and one on the Sicily side), tunnels aplenty (80 percent of the new roads are underground), and 10 viaducts. The bridge is projected to open in 2033.

Pietro Salini, chief executive of the Italian engineering company leading the project, Webuild, called the project “transformative for the whole country” in a statement, adding that the “great infrastructure project” will spread across multiple sites to “stimulate growth, employment, and lawfulness across southern Italy. The project will be fitted with the most advanced technologies for safety and maintenance.”