«Like my father, I too am in favor of the Bridge, and don’t be surprised». Vincenzo FranzaCEO of Caronte&Tourist Isole Minori was yesterday a guest of the Bridge Commission chaired by Pippo Trischitta which is taking a first look at the various facets of the (probable) construction site of the largest suspension bridge that would ever be built in the world. «Our company and I are in favor for three reasons. We are Sicilian and an investment of this magnitude will make us stop being an island from a transport point of view, especially from a railway perspective. Then it is not a “spot” project because it joins other activities underway in the rest of the island such as the doubling of the railway on the Ionian and Tyrrhenian shores towards Catania and Palermo. And, finally, as an entrepreneur I say that the 10 billion investment which will partly remain in the area can only make us happy. As a native of Messina, I would add that it is the opportunity of a lifetime.”
What would it take?
«Whoever designs it thinks of it as a work that crosses the city. We have to think that it will remain here for centuries. So let’s organize the Bridge as if it were our Eiffel Tower. Because even a transport system can become a tourist attractor. We let tourists and cruise passengers climb the 400 meter high tower and let them find restaurants and bars at high altitude. One of those unmissable attractions. And then below, a hospitality village, a shopping centre, hotels, a bridge museum. How many conferences could be organized in the shadow of the Bridge. Let’s create a tourism plan for the Bridge that ties it to the city forever. It could invoice as much as the entire Strait shipping sector.”