The bureaucracy slows down the CIS for the redevelopment of the historic center of Cosenza, but does not stop it. Tenders for the awarding of the works for a total of 90 million euros will be announced within the year. The institutional development contract provides, after the extension for the Covid emergency, that tenders will be carried out by the end of 2022. It goes on in small steps: almost all the specifications have been signed between the Mic and the local authorities that presented the projects (Province, Superintendency and Municipality). And the sole manager of the contract was appointed, Lieutenant Colonel of the Carabinieri Luigi Aquino, of Cosenza origins, who boasts an important experience in the Great Pompeii Project. Tender procedures, protocols for legality, checks and verifications on the execution of the works and on the time schedules will be subjected to his scrutiny.
Aquino in Cosenza after the Great Pompeii project
“I intend to do in a small way what was done in Pompeii, making the expertise gained over the years around projects of international importance available to the regeneration of the old city of Cosenza – declares Aquino – We will shortly compete and give the city the opportunity to recover a vast cultural heritage, but vilified and abandoned. And it is only a starting point, because the CIS will be a driving force for new investments. The MIC has various resources available and the minister is particularly sensitive to the revitalization of the historic centers of the South ».
Eleven interventions for the historic center
A relaunch that in Cosenza focuses on innovation and training with eleven interventions: the construction of a large library center, with the acquisition of the civic library (including the refurbishment and redevelopment of spaces), for the restoration and enhancement of a library heritage which is priceless. The creation of a cultural incubator, inside the national boarding school, managed by the University of Calabria. The installations of “Urban gardens diffused” for the enhancement of the urban landscape, the redevelopment of the Villa Vecchia. The completion of the largest library in the world dedicated to the great Renaissance philosophers within the International Center for Telesian Studies Bruniani and Campanelliani, and new laboratories for the diagnosis, restoration and conservation of artistic and architectural heritage. Environmental remediation and the safety of areas particularly marked by hydrogeological instability have also been financed.
Bringing the university students to the old city
“The goal is to bring students to the heart of the historic center, making the extraordinary heritage of the city available to them”, underlines Salvatore Patamia, who, as regional secretary of the Ministry of Culture for Calabria, will manage 17 of the 90 millions destined for Cosenza.
Private buildings outside the CIS
Private buildings and most of the religious ones remain outside the CIS. An exclusion that has sparked strong disputes within the resident community, forced to continually deal with collapses and neglect. “We hoped that the Region would put its own fish on the historic center of Cosenza – comments Anna Laura Orrico (M5S), who as undersecretary, with the previous government, gave impetus to the CIS – integrating the funds available for interventions on private assets, but this was not the case. It is the only body that has not submitted projects ».