In the past few years a lot of work has been done in Italy on where and how to build the Messina Narrows Bridge. The main problems were the nature and strength of the soil, dangerous currents, winds, faults and relevant earthquakes. At the same time many solutions for a double" one mile" span stayed or suspension bridge and a simple" two mile" span suspension bridge were suggested. This paper gives a survey of the present state of knowledge with special reference to the technical problems connected with the single span solutions, where aeroelastic stability governs the design of the deck and the cables. On the other hand the 380 m towers are themselves a problem in a heavily seismic area./Author/