Italy has long toyed with the idea of building a bridge between the island of Sicily with the mainland.

The hugely ambitious engineering project was in preliminary stages for decades before being shelved in 2013.

In 2022, Italy’s newly elected right-wing government announced it wanted to revive the plans for what will be the world’s longest suspension bridge.

Prime minister Giorgia Meloni said she would ask the EU to help fund the multi-billion euro proposal.

This week, the bridge’s construction company Società Stretto di Messina and the Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency of the European Commission (CINEA9 signed a new funding proposal.

The Grant Agreement will see the EU cover 50 per cent of the executive design costs of the rail infrastructure amounting to around €25 million.

Can you drive from Sicily to mainland Italy?

Currently, you can go by plane, boat or a train that is carried by a ferry from mainland Italy to the island of Sicily.

However, as far back as Roman times, the idea of a bridge to connect the two land masses was debated.

In fact, according to some historians, the ancient Romans did actually build one made of barrels and boats.

Dictator Benito Mussolini revived the dream of linking Sicily with the mainland, but it wasn’t until the government of Silvio Berlusconi in the early 2000s that the scheme gained funding from Brussels.

In 2009, a contract for the construction was awarded to the Messina Strait Company.

The proposed rail and road connection was to link the Sicilian city of Messina with the region of Calabria on the mainland.

But plans were scrapped in 2013 after former premier Mario Monti closed the construction company in a series of austerity cuts.

Why is there no bridge from mainland Italy to Sicily?

The plans for a suspension bridge between Sicily and the mainland have not been unanimously supported.

Advocates claim the connection will help boost the island’s stagnating economy and lessen the gap between the country’s wealthy north and poorer south.

Supporters also say that it will allow cargo ships arriving down the Suez Canal to transfer their goods onto trains in Sicily.

This would then enable them to be transported quickly up to the north of the country, saving money on lengthy sea voyages.

The rail and road connection would also ease the pressure on the overcrowded ferry services that shuttle cars, lorries and trains over the Strait of Messina.

But critics maintain that the gigantic bridge would be a waste of public funds and a risky undertaking in an active seismic zone.

Environmentalists also warn of the risk to local ecosystems and the aesthetic damage to the landscape.

When will the Strait of Messina bridge be built?

In her first budget as PM in 2022, Meloni reinstated the company that would oversee the construction of the Strait of Messina suspension bridge.

“This is the government and legislature that have the ambition to lay the first stone and start building this blessed project,” said Matteo Salvini, Italy’s infrastructure minister and leader of the League coalition party.

The proposed road and rail connection will have a central span of over 3km long, making it the longest suspension bridge in the world.

The estimated total cost of the structure is €4.6 billion and construction sites are set to open by the end of this year.

“Starting work on the construction of the Strait Bridge is one of my goals,” Salvini told Italian broadcaster RAI last month.

“The transshipment of ferries, in addition to pollution and time wasting, costs people more in a year than it would cost to build the bridge.”

Workers in the Greek tourism industry say they are at breaking point, straining under long hours, low wages and not enough colleagues to cover the work.

They are planning protests this week to make their feelings – and demands – heard.

“We are asking for an increase of 12% for the next two years, that is 6% for each year. We are also asking – in 2024 – that the 5-day/40-hour working week also be applied to us,” Giorgos Hotzoglou, President of the Hellenic Federation of Tourism Employees, explains.

Workers can barely survive on their current wages, he says, as they don’t track with inflation.

Public services like water and waste management are also struggling to cope with the added strain of visitors.

Tourists arriving in Greece will be targeted during the protests, with workers handing out leaflets explaining their plight at airports, ports and archaeological sites.

Greece’s tourism is not growing as fast as similar countries

A recent survey by PwC shows that although there has been an increase in the number of tourists arriving in Greece this year, the country’s tourism sector is not growing as fast as in other Mediterranean countries.

“Mediterranean and the Balkan countries as a whole are increasing their share of the international tourism market, which means that tourists prefer this region for their holidays. Looking at our country, compared to other countries, it seems that our share is growing, but not at the same speed,” explains Leonidas Papaioannou, a partner at PwC Greece.

Greece is more than just sea and sun

Greece’s tourism officials say there’s much to discover in Greece beyond Santorini, the island that is ever popular with holidaymakers seking the perfect Instagram snap.

Greece has long been committed to promoting sustainable tourism and tackling the environmental impact of travel.

But for the country, sustainability means more than just preserving its world-famous landscapes. Experts say a different and more comprehensive approach is needed.

“We need to offer experiences that go beyond the traditional “sun and sea” concept, where we currently dominate as an international brand. We also need to enhance our infrastructure and human resources,” says Alexandros Thanou, Director of the Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE).

Extending the travel season into autumn and winter and promoting the beauty of mountainous Greece are among the main goals of the tourism industry over the coming years.

While the debate surrounding overtourism rages across Europe, one French mayor has announced a novel plan to tackle the problem.

In Marseille, says he wants to make landlords who rent properties on Airbnb ‘buy back’ another property to put up for long-term rental to increase housing supply.

Speaking to the franceinfo radio station, Payan claimed that up to 75 per cent of property developers in the city were “not from Marseille”. He also suggested that the majority were renting out their properties using short-term rental sites, including Airbnb.

“I’m going to oblige anyone who wants to [rent out a property on] Airbnb to buy an apartment and put it up for long-term rental,” he said.

“I’m going to use everything the law allows me as a weapon… It’s going to make them stop wanting to make money off the people of Marseille.”

It’s not the first time the mayor of France’s second largest city has made his feelings on Airbnbs clear.

What is Benoît Payan’s plan to combat overtourism in Marseille?

Payan previously told Maritima radio that he wanted to “prohibit people whose second homes should be used for normal rentals from putting their accommodation on Airbnb”.

Currently, people in Marseille who want to rent out a second home on Airbnb must request authorisation for a change of use from the town hall, before being legally allowed to do so.

Payan claims that, before he became mayor in 2020, “four per cent of requests were refused”. Today, he says, that figure is 82 per cent.

“In Marseille, there will be the strictest and strongest regulations in France to fight against Airbnb,” Payan insisted to Maritima.

Along with Paris, Marseille has set up a so-called ‘Airbnb brigade’, which works to identify illegal listings.

All of France has strict rules on Airbnb rentals, but local authorities are also able to impose their own rules if they wish.

In recent years, an increasing number of mayors and local governments are choosing to do just that, in order to battle housing shortages and crack down on overtourism.

The French capital famously fought a long legal battle with Airbnb, which resulted in a ruling from the European Court of Justice which requires local authorisation for short-term property rentals.

In Paris, any rental of second homes on Airbnb is now prohibited, and all owners are limited on the number of days they are allowed to rent out their main home on the platform.

On top of those regulations, any property owners – French or otherwise – renting out their property in France via Airbnb must declare their income to French tax authorities.

Airbnb itself also provides details of all yearly rentals to the French tax office, meaning renting out property in the country is rather less appealing than it has been in the past.