No Ceremony, Little Love for New Venice Canal Bridge

"The 94m (308ft) arching steel and glass span will link Venice's railway station with Piazzale Roma, the car, bus and ferry terminal on the opposite side of the Grand Canal. Only the fourth bridge ever to be built over the Grand Canal and Venice's first new bridge for 70 years, it was to have been opened on September 18 by President Napolitano."

"However members of the right-wing Alleanza Nazionale on Venice's centre left-dominated city council said that the new bridge was 'a monument to bad administration and a waste of Venice's money'."

"Critics of the bridge claim that the cost of the project has risen from an original estimate of €5 million (£3.9 million) to €20 million, partly because of delays and legal disputes with the construction company. The council insists that the final cost will be "around ten million" euros."