Ex-premier and centre-right Forza Italia (FI) leader Silvio Berlusconi on Thursday pledged to fulfill a long-time vow to build a bridge over the Messina Straits while on the stump for Sunday's Sicilian elections.
The three-time former premier said the plan to build a road and rail link between Sicily and mainland Italy had been sunk by a previous centre-left government and he would resurrect it.
He also pledged to build a casino in Taormina.
Berlusconi said a Marshall Plan was needed for the Italian island, putting in "at least two billion euros a year".
The FI leader added that a government deal between FI, the rightist populist Northern League (FN) and the rightist nationalist Brothers of Italy (FdI) would be sealed at a dinner with FN leader Matteo Salvini and FdI leader Giorgia Meloni in Catania