Italy's bridge to nowhere? Antonio Mazzeo's "I padrini del ponte"

It's not often that I read a book and am totally floored by what I read, but this book by Antonio Mazzeo surprised me and startled me. The topic of the book, I padrini del ponte, is about the "cast of characters", i padrini or "godfathers", involved in the construction and planning of Italy's "bridge to nowhere" that hopes to span the Straits of Messina between Sicily and the mainland.  Bridges to "nowhere" have been hot topics not only in the United States, but it's also an Italian issue, too.

While the bridge certainly goes somewhere, it's not the destination of the bridge that is going "nowhere" but the project itself. The construction of the bridge has been deemed unfeasible by scientists and architects, and the obvious benefits of building the bridge are almost zero for the economics of the south and mainly seek to further mafia businesses interests in the south of Italy (as well as other parts of Italy and even mafia businesses elsewhere around the world). as well as lining the pockets of some powerful people, Italian politicians included! Why anyone would want to bridge in one of the most geophysically unstable places in all the word is a mystery that boggles the minds of many.

Ironically, the author refers to the bridge many times throughout the book as Scylla and Charybdis, the mythological monsters that tormented sailors for centuries and which the author postulates has now been resurrected by this bridge project, a "monster" that, along with the mafia, seeks to wreak havoc on Italy once again!  This "monste"r is now poised to escape from the annals of lore into the real world, most certainly causing more harm than good.

Seen by some as a way of reinvigorating Sicily's economy and that of the south of Italy, this project, as Mazzeo conveys, would more than certainly do more harm than good. In his book, Mazzeo demonstrates just how involved the various Italian mafias (as well as those outside Italy) with the planning and eventual construction of this bridge. The fact that this project not only involves some of the most powerful people in Italy should cause alarm bells to ring! What really struck me is how far flung geographically this project has become, spanning oceans all the way to the United States and especially Canada, where the bridge's principal planner is from and where much of the logistics and planning have taken place.  First chapters of the book do an excellent job at setting the stage as well as the history of the project. (As an aside, the connection to Canada really surprised me, and it just goes to show that the mafia is not just an Italian phenomenon but a worldwide problem that spans borders and oceans...something to think about!)

The book is a dizzying array of names of those involved in seeing this project to fruition. At times, the book introduces so many different people that it seems inconceivable that the author could have even written the book.  I found myself often unable to know just who was who.  While I found it frustrating, perhaps it is this frustration which the author seeks to convey to his audience.  As the author says, in quoting captured Cosa Nostra boss, Bernardo Provenzano, "Minchia, se fanno 'u ponte ce ne sarà per tutti!!!" (p. 117*) While I didn't know many of the names of the people profiled in the book, an Italian might better understand the "cast of characters" involved.  I found myself hitting up Google and Wikipedia, trying to find articles, new stories, online profiles and other information.  I certainly learned a lot reading this book:  far more than I bargained for.

Umberto Santino's preface, Il ponte e le mafie: uno spaccato di capitalismo reale, is one of the best features of this book.  Santino is a leading expert on the mafia and organized crime, and he writes in a very approachable and concise way but also in a way that makes you stand up and "listen" to what he has to say.  In his preface, Santino presents to the reader a clear picture of the situation involving this bridge -- he does not mince words, describing to the reader that the mafias of today are more than their cinematic portrayals ever were, becoming "smarter" and more "careful" in their modus operandi! Santino compares the bridge project to the pyramids of Egypt, where the pharaohs of old sought to immortalize their legacy, and Santino wastes no time in making this connection with Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's colorful and often gaffe-prone Prime Minister.

While some of those involved have been arrested, the author's detailed analysis shows that even when one person is arrested, there will most certainly be others to take their place, and, should the project continue to go forward, one will always wonder to what extent the mafias involvement played and just how much would these mafia groups gain.  

The bridge was also the topic of La7, Exit, last year:
http://www.la7.it/blog/post_dettaglio.asp?id=3270&idblog=ILARIA_DAMICO_-_Exit_15

NB:  I updated this post to make it more readable and to link to this site, No Ponte: http://www.noponte.it/

*The author takes this Provenzano quote from Salvatore Cancemi's, "Riina mi fece i nome di...Confessioni di un ex boss della cupola" from Massari Editore, 2002, p. 36.