Pylons of Messina

The Pylons of Messina are two free-standing steel towers, the Sicilian one in Torre Faro and the Calabrian one in Villa San Giovanni. They were used from 1955 to 1994 to carry a 220 kilovolt power line across the Strait of Messina, between the Scilla substation in Calabria on the Italian mainland at 38°14′42″N 15°40′59″E and the Messina-Santo substation in Sicily at 38°15′57″N 15°39′04″E.

The two pylons, built in 1955, are both 232-metre-high free-standing steel towers. Each stands on an 8-metre-high cross-shaped base and is equipped with a crossbar that carries four conductors at a height of 212 metres , and another V-shaped structure at the top which carries two additional conductors in addition to ground wires. In contrast to more conventional pylon design, the corners of the pylons are arranged diagonally along the direction of the course of the line. The pylons of Messina were the model for the Elbe Crossing 1 in Germany and were, until the completion of Elbe Crossing 2, the tallest pylons in the world.

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