"The train is decoupled from its tracks, carefully loaded on to the deck of a ferry, and secured in place. The entire cargo then eases out into the Strait of Messina en route to Sicily. Invariably, this 25-minute crossing becomes an impromptu community moment. Passengers abandon their carriages, flocking to the ship's top-deck snack bar to share freshly fried arancini, trade anecdotes, and admire the vista"
"the ferry crossing is a charming novelty. For local people, however, it has long been a defining part of their identity. In his 1941 novel, Conversations in Sicily, the writer Elio Vittorini describes a group of fruit pickers congregating on the boat's deck, feasting on large chunks of local cheese and enjoying the view. As the narrator joins them, he is transported to being a boy; feeling"
The Intercity train is routinely loaded onto a ferry at Villa San Giovanni and conveyed across the 25-minute Strait of Messina crossing, creating recurring communal moments among passengers. The crossing fosters shared food, conversation, and scenic views of Mount Etna, and forms part of local identity. Literary memory links the boat-deck gatherings to childhood and regional landscape. The Italian government has committed €13.5bn and commissioned the Webuild Group to begin work on a proposed single-span bridge that would be the world’s longest. Local scepticism persists given repeated historical proposals dating back to Roman times and modern advocacy since the late 1960s to address regional inequality.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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