Leaving or staying: young Sicilians and the promise of a bridge
For decades, young Sicilians have been leaving their homeland, driven by high unemployment and a lack of infrastructure. The proposed Strait of Messina Bridge is praised as a solution to the island’s challenges. But there is resistance to the project.
Alcamo Marina is located right in the middle of a bay in Northern Sicily. Mountains rise on both sides, with caves and beaches stretching out at their feet. Bruno sits on the terrace of his parents' house. The 26-year-old moved back to his hometown last year.
“When you grow up here, you take this for granted,” he says, pointing to the seashore below. “And now I wake up and feel so grateful for having this in front of me.”
When he was 19 years old, he moved to Northern Italy to study. Afterwards he lived in Switzerland, Estonia and Belgium.
“I needed to get away, to broaden my horizon. To open up my mind.”
Bruno is one of many young people leaving Sicily to find a way to start a career. But some also leave just to be able to afford a living.
Paola (name changed), 30, is from Alcamo as well. “It means everything to me. There is my social life, friends, family.”
But she left.
Dreamy, but dreadful
Sicily is often portrayed as a dreamy tourist destination, the definition of ‘dolcefarniente’ – the sweetness of doing nothing. But this idleness is a bitter reality for young Sicilians like Bruno and Paola.
For decades, Sicily has been one of the poorest regions in the European Union. A 2024 study by Eurostat showed that around 35 percent of all Sicilians are at risk of poverty. While youth unemployment is declining, numbers remain among the highest in European comparison ranging between 35 to 40 percent, according to the Italian National Institute of Statistics.
“Young people are generally disadvantaged in terms of job opportunities, and this has been happening for a long time,” says Daniele Schilirò, Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Messina in Sicily.
“Moreover, the region is characterized by a structurally imbalanced labor market, in which labor supply persistently exceeds demand,” he says. The jobs that exist were usually low-skilled and poorly paid.
In addition to insufficient employment opportunities, the island faces significant challenges due to inadequate infrastructure – from roads to education to healthcare – and persistent extreme weather events such as droughts and wildfires.
Bruno left to study international relations in English, as such programs were unavailable in Sicily. Whilst Bruno actively decided to leave, Paola saw no other choice.
Paola is a healthcare assistant. “In Sicily hospital positions are rare, so working in the private sector isn't worth it due to the type of salary and the exploitation.”
In one of her old jobs in Alcamo she was paid €2 per hour.
“So, people often try to leave Sicily to do the same type of work, but with higher pay.” Paola now lives and works in Bologna in the public sector, where she earns more money.
While the public sector used to provide most jobs in Sicily, it has been shrinking for the past decades. Prof. Schilirò adds that jobs for academics are rare and that the entrepreneurial scene remains small.
The public sector used to provide most jobs in Sicily, but for several decades it has been in decline. Schilirò adds that jobs for academics are scarce and the business landscape remains small.
A possible resolution to these issues was inspired by an idea from the Roman times: a bridge, connecting the island to the mainland region of Calabria. A bridge thought to better the infrastructure and open new opportunities for Sicily – and the overall structurally neglected Italian South.
The first modern approaches were introduced in 1969 and are being discussed to this day. But while there is no bridge, millions of Euros have been spent on a project to build one.
A bridge too far?
The idea of building the Strait of Messina Bridge has been like an off-and-on-again relationship. Sometimes an Italian government wants it, sometimes not. Depending on the political predecessor and how they felt about it.
The last prime minister on the verge of succeeding was Silvio Berlusconi, but his successor Mario Monti again halted the project in 2013. By then, more than 300 million Euros had been spent on project planning, management, studies and contractual penalties.
In 2023, the government under Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, leader of the far-right party Fratelli d’Italia, made another attempt.
Claiming they would finally fulfill “a dream of millions of Italians for centuries,” transport Minister and Vice President Matteo Salvini picked up on Berlusconi’s plans.
The overall concept remained the same. However, the costs for the bridge jumped to 13.5 billion Euros. For the first preliminary project approved in 2003, it was 3.9 billion Euros.
But according to Salvini, the costs are worth it. The bridge would not only help Sicily, but the entire South. He promised more than 120,000 new jobs during construction, improved mobility, reduced environmental pollution and a boost of Italy’s GDP by billions.
The opposition
Even though these estimates sound promising, there is doubt about Salvini’s plans – and active resistance to it.
Loudest among the critics are the residents of Messina, from where the bridge shall connect the island to the mainland. For around 40 years, several actors have united under the initiative No Ponte, translating to “no bridge”, in their protest.
They oppose the bridge for its massive costs, significant environmental damage, extreme seismic risks in the area and the fear of Mafia infiltration.
Federico Alagna is part of No Ponte. He is from Messina but works at the University of Bologna and University of Florence as a researcher and teacher, amongst other things in political science and sociology.
“While the bridge is a national issue, the ‘no bridge’ has always been a very local issue,” says Alagna. Though he works in the North, he commutes to Messina to oppose the bridge.
In Sicily the opinions on the bridge are divided. In a conservative city, governed by a center-right mayor, this kind of activism isn’t always easy, explains Alagna. He experienced many people supporting the project, seeing it as a great economic chance for Messina.
But as the plans became more concrete, people understood that the construction works will have an immense impact on the whole cityscape: A total of more than 450 properties will have to be expropriated, about 300 of them residential buildings.
Suddenly it affected people directly and thus it became reality, Alagna explains. So, more people joined their opposition.
“It has nothing to do with us”
Several times a year, demonstrations against the bridge are carried out in Messina. The last one was on Nov. 29, 2025. More than 15.000 people came to the protest.
Among them are Fede, 20, and Alessandra, 21. Both are from Messina. Alessandra is in school, while Fede has no occupation. Many people their age have left their hometown with hopes for a better future.
They don’t see the bridge as a solution to this problem, or any of their needs.
“It has nothing to do with us,” says Alessandra.
They also oppose the idea of the bridge as a means of development. “The mindset is that we must take example from the cities of the North. But why? We don't have the same issues. We don't have the same story,” says Fede.
North vs. South
For No Ponte, their stand is against more than just the bridge. “The mobilization against the bridge must become the symbol of a South that puts itself, its needs and its dignity back at the center,” says a statement signed by the initiative.
This call for redemption is rooted in the enduring socioeconomic divide between northern and southern Italy. For decades, the North has benefited from high wages and modern infrastructure, while the South has faced ongoing challenges.
In this light, Federico understands the first impulse to say that the bridge is something good:
“It's some sort of [revenge towards] the North. We have this big public infrastructure in the South paid by the government.”
It needs more than a bridge
One of No Ponte’s main counterarguments concerns money allocation. Instead of spending €13.5 billion on the bridge, they demand this money to go into local infrastructure to facilitate mobility. Funds were also needed to address water shortages and strengthen the healthcare and education system.
Daniele Schilirò has more than 40 years experience as an economist. In his opinion, no bridge is also no solution. He sees a chance of the bridge increasing mobility and pushing development in Sicily, making it more attractive to private companies and investors. And thus, for young people to stay.
But even though he understands infrastructure as a driving factor for development, it was not sufficient:
“You need to invest in education as well as in initiatives that promote entrepreneurship, create strong finance startups, and find capital for people who really want to create companies, especially in the high-tech sector.”
To him, the bridge could serve as a starting point for more investment in Sicily in general.
Though Schilirò also understands why people would not think this was a realistic scenario: He saw governments making promises with regards to the bridge and improvements of the infrastructure, but he did not see them being kept, repeatedly.
In general, infrastructural projects in Italy would tend to be delayed:
“The bridge is not a key variable for deciding whether to stay or leave Sicily. It may become one if the bridge was already done or if it was built in a short amount of time. But speaking from experience: we don’t know how much time construction will take.”
Feeling torn
Bruno believes in the power of mobility but does not see how the bridge would enhance it for Sicilians:
“They say they build the bridge and Sicily will be cool. But look at Calabria. It is connected to the mainland. It’s not like Calabria is in a much better of place, right?”
He also does not believe that the creation of job opportunities will give young people enough reason to stay. To him, it's culture keeping people around.
By living abroad, he found his community, his first job and a passion for climate activism. But when he visited his hometown Alcamo, there were no spaces for him to connect with young people, no cultural offers or activist movements.
In summer 2024, Bruno quit his job in Brussels and moved back to Alcamo. He became fully committed to his activism, fighting wildfires and, inspired by his experiences abroad, building those cultural spaces he was missing.
His decision was influenced by years of an internal struggle: He always told others to stay but also realized he was the one who left. That made him realize how deeply connected he is to Sicily, and how things need to change.
“I want people to stay after high school, not because they have no other option [...]. But because they belong here and because it's cool to stay.”
Future unclear
Still, Bruno is aware that there remains a lot of uncertainty.
“How many people will be able to live here, and how? If you ask me what it is going to be like in 50 years, I struggle to imagine.” Especially the water shortage worries him.
He shakes his head. “It's a bit contradictory. I'm telling everyone: we should stay here, we should fight, we should resist. Let's build here what is missing. But then I don't know what will happen. I just don't.”
Paola remains in Bologna. There, everything is different. She earns more but finds it hard to warm up to the city.
She wants to return to Sicily, to Alcamo.
“I really miss life, the heat, the summer, and having fun with friends and being with family.”
She hopes to be able to get a job in a public hospital. And that there will be more opportunities “to ensure that young people stay in their homeland.”
“Something is moving”
In recent years, Economics professor Schilirò has observed a positive development in the private sector in Sicily: He saw a growing number of start-ups emerging, often led by young entrepreneurs.
“For many years, things stood still. Now something is moving.”
But he remains careful with his optimism:
“If you look at the whole picture, you still see an island who suffers in terms of opportunities for young people, from poverty. There remains a lot of people who live in poor conditions.”
Regarding the Strait of Messina Bridge, Schilirò emphasizes his opinion that both the bridge and the local infrastructure are worth the investment. But he questions where the money is supposed to come from. And he is not the only one.
Haltered until further notice
On Oct. 30, 2025, the Italian Court of Auditors halted the project.
The Court questioned the legitimacy and transparency of the project on several fronts, noting that traffic forecasts and cost estimates are still largely based on the plans from the Berlusconi government from 2006.
It also highlighted an apparent “misalignment between the certified amount and the approved economic plan,” raising concerns about cost reliability. Compliance with European environmental law and EU competition rules was also questioned.
Transport Minister Salvini and Prime Minister Meloni sharply criticized the Court of Auditors' decision and accused the judges of political motives. Meloni accused the court of overstepping politically and emphasized that her government had clarified all technical issues. Salvini spoke of “serious damage to the country”.
Despite the setback, he remains optimistic and announced that he would exhaust all legal avenues to enable construction to begin as early as February 2026. He is certain for the bridge to be finished in 2032.
Schilirò doesn’t think construction will start in February 2026 – nor that it will finish within the set time frame. The reassessments and recalculations were too complex to solve in such a short amount of time. He expects these delays to increase the costs once again.
There is a need for a more thorough strategy, which provides more planning reliability and sustainable outlooks, says Schilirò. He argues that building the bridge should be part of a long-term plan, including other infrastructural projects in the area, to create broader and sustainable opportunities in the whole region.
“The problem is that I didn't see any government up to this day write such a strategy. And this is my real worry. The bridge is a positive step, but then, what else?”
Power of the people
Back in Messina, Federico Alagna of No Ponte shares the feeling of uncertainty. His worst fear is that the construction works start, people will lose their houses – but then it will be haltered again or even stopped completely.
“I don't think that we can just rely on the court of auditors or on some other institution to stop the project. They can delay it, they can put it on hold, but they cannot really stop it because it's a political project.”
Instead, Alagna believes power of the people:
“We think that the possibility to shut off the bridge project [...] is through mass mobilization.”
And he feels that people are uniting:
“I feel an enthusiasm right now in the city. I think we need to show them that we are fearless and go there. And whatever it takes, we will do that.”
Fede and Alessandra, who were at the demonstration in November, try to remain hopeful as well:
“It’s difficult, but not impossible. Right now, in Italy there are movements focused on what really matters. And it’s not money, and it’s not the bridge,” underlines Fede. She hopes for a cultural shift where the people of Italy are not fighting against each other, but with and for each other.
Alessandra simply hopes to find a way to stay in Sicily and “not be preoccupied with not being able to live.”
“We are not asking to be rich,” she continues. “We are just asking to have a decent life. We just want to live.”
