"The book, a pleasure to read, offers an interesting synthesis of complex events that have characterized the design of the bridge over the Strait of Messina from its conception in the 60s to its development up to the awarding of the tender for its construction and the subsequent suspension of work in 2012.
The book explains, in a concise and effective, even without analyzing the potential energy, both the technical aspects of this extraordinary project and its value not only in creating a unique metropolitan area across the strait and in contributing to its development, but above as a vital element, in the logistics of the third millennium, the European corridor North - South."
-Professor. Ing. Cesare Boffa, Ph.D.
Polytechnic University, Turin
Amazon.it, February 5, 2015
“This book, superbly edited by Eugene P. Trani and Donald E. Davis, includes outstanding contributions highlighting the pros and some cons of the Messina Strait Bridge, and the history of its failure.”
- Professor Francesco Tomasello, Former Rector of the University of Messina
"A Bridge to Somewhere is a remarkable story of the collision of technology with culture and history in a 'big engineering' project, and of the power of political self-interest. What might have been the eighth wonder of the world remains unfinished and perhaps unfinishable. The authors tell a compelling story with commendable detail and precision. A cautionary tale for those who might presume that technology alone is sufficient for the achievement of the public good.”
-Russell D. Jamison, Ph.D., Professor, Biomedical Engineering and Chemical and Life Science Engineering, Dean Emeritus, Virginia Commonwealth University
“With a sure command of history and contemporary European politics, Eugene P. Trani and Donald E. Davis recount the century-long effort to realize one of the great engineering dreams of modern times: to bridge the narrow Strait of Messina separating Sicily and the Italian mainland. This immense project came tantalizingly close to reality, only to fall victim within the past year to inter-regional Italian squabbles and wider hostility within the European Union. Planned, designed, and vetted for economic, financial, and environmental feasibility, the bridge would have revolutionized the transport of goods within Europe and beyond. Trani and Davis deftly limn the story of this expansive vision, its dramatic potential impact on European rail and sea-borne container traffic, and, with profound regret, its demise.”
--Nelson D. Lankford, Ph.D., editor of the Virginia Magazine of History and Biography
" ' It is a book that must be translated and that everyone from Messina should read.' The engineer Giovanni Mollica is involved [in the book], and admires the approach, devoid of ideological visions and pragmatics. The two authors describe an event 'that to the rest of the world seems incomprehensible,' to use the exact words of the authors, Trani and Davis".
--Gazzetta del Sud, January 29, 2015