There is a popular saying in Italian – similar to how Anglophones use “when hell freezes over” – that translates as “I’ll do it when the bridge to Messina is finished.” The dream of a bridge connecting the mainland to Sicily across the Straits of Messina goes back to Roman times, when Consul Metellus strung together barrels and wood to move 100 war elephants from Carthage to Rome in 252 BCE, accor