The mob will be opening the champagne bottles tonight. For an island that lacks a reliable water supply there is €14bn available for a bridge. The islands road network and health services are in need of extra funding.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c80d74v0e4lo

The construction project has been designated as 'spending towards the NATO 5% target'. Good luck to the Italians. I wonder if the proposed bridge will be for both cars and trains.

The m*f** are laughing now and so let's name this bridge after them. (Read my sarcasm.)

"Scicily bridge"? That is ambitious, connecting the Scilly Isles to Sicily ...or had you already had a few glasses when you wrote this Philat?

!?! <spits out his morning coffee>

I dont normally start boozing at 7pm. Thats the time to walk the dog and close the chickens.

There are still several, er, bridges to cross ... So it is far from certain that the project will proceed, but I will eat my hat if it is completed by 2033!
And I will eat every hat sent to me by members of BE (only one hat per person, please. ) if it is completed on budget for EUR13.5bn.

I am sure you are right.
I am doubtful it will ever be completed. It is a huge expenditure for a country that has Euro 3 trillion debt. I expect another financial crisis will stop the project in its tracks.

So I can only post in English even though the Italian saying I posted was on the Italian section and was completely apposite
Will not bother anymore .

I'm not sure it's a great argument, but there may actually be some historic logic in wanting to call the bridge "military infrastructure" - the WWII liberation of Italy by the Allies started with landings on Sicily in July 1943. While I am doubtful that using the bridge during actual wartime would be a good idea, it could be useful for enabling a rapid build-up of defensive forces and equipment during times of international tension.

It's likely to be a two-front war again - the Caucasus and the Pacific ring. The Sicily m*f*a bridge will be as useful as a chocolate teapot.

Well the chocolate teapot argument applies for several reasons, not least that in the event that the bridge ever had any potential for imminent military utility it would be immediately bombed, mined, or otherwise demolished.

You can use Italian in the language section when people are asking how to say things or when something doesn't really have a translation. Your proverb was incorrect anyway. It isn't *tra il dire e il fare c'e un mezzo di mare* The correct proverb is, "tra il dire e il fare, c’è di mezzo il mare."

If anyone's interested it means "Between saying and doing, there's a huge difference."

As per the site rules, it's fine to use Italian if you're discussing the language i.e. 'how do I say xxxx'. But any other posts must be in English (rule 17). Thanks.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...e-a-nato-asset

To put it politely, the Italians are flexing their creative muscles again - this time with their "creative accounting". I wonder whether they will classify food transportation as strategic spending next year!