The strait is the stuff of legend: from the toe of Italy's boot Calabria falls to the shore in steep green folds. Three kilometres away, across sea said to have been ruled by monsters and mobsters, the ancient Sicilian city of Messina cascades down the steep hillside to the port. Now the Messina Strait is to be conquered - by the mightiest bridge in the world. Silvio Berlusconi - battered by negative opinion polls, tormented in Iraq, and frustrated by an economy that has been flat for two years - hopes the Messina bridge will be the ace up his...