East Naples, other works at the PalaDennerlein in Barra never reopened after the Universiade

There is a new project to recover part of the PalaDennerleinil sports hall in Barra, neighborhood in the eastern area of ​​Naples. With one million and 778 thousand euros, the gym excluded from the interventions carried out for the 2019 Universiade will be redeveloped. On that occasion, in fact, only the area of ​​the pool used for water polo training and then completely abandoned was regenerated. For years we have been waiting for the municipal good of via delle Repubbliche Marinare to be returned to the community and removed from the target of vandals and criminals who have done damage to what was created on the occasion of the international event.

The story is this. In June 2018, in view of the Universiade a year later, the project for the redevelopment of the entire PalaDennerlein was approved. In December 2018, ARUS, the Regional Agency for the Universiade for Sport, delivered the works which, however, “due to disagreements with the executing company also deriving from the presence of design errors”, will focus exclusively on the pool area without, however, affect the diving pool and trampolines but only the largest pool and related facilities and services. In the gym area, on the other hand, only demolitions and some partitions were carried out. The interventions continue even after the Universiade and were completed in September 2020, tested in March 2021. The East Naples sports complex was “returned” to the Municipality of Naples, which owns it, in November 2021 but Palazzo San Giacomo “could not reopen it due to the impossibility of obtaining the fire prevention certificate without completing the work on the gymnasium”. Therefore, the PalaDennerlein has remained denied to the community and, on several occasions, has been visited by unknown persons who have stolen material for resale and damaged part of what was created a few months earlier, such as fixtures, systems and furnishings.

The PalaDennerlein, built during the post-earthquake “reconstruction” period of 1980, covers over nineteen thousand square meters. In addition to the Olympic and diving pools, it also includes an open football field, some green areas and a large parking area. The multifunctional area is made up of two gyms, one of which has a parquet playing field for basketball and volleyballchanging rooms, bleachers for about five hundred seats and various service rooms.

ARUS will take care of the next works in the gym area using resources from the Campania Region. The project for the completion of the redevelopment of the PalaDennerlein – now approved by the Municipality of Naples with a council resolution proposed by the councilor for sport Emanuela Ferrante – focuses on the gym area where demolitions and new configurations of spaces have already been carried out with the work of the Universiade. Therefore, the redevelopment will be completed with the finishing of the walls, the maintenance of the fixtures, the replacement of the glass doors, of the systems and so on. The heart of the project is the redevelopment of the playing field: a new FIBA ​​certified parquet flooring is installed throughout the area which will allow it to be used for national championships and international events for both basketball and volleyball. Also in the gym area, a new LED lighting system and roofing will be installed. Further interventions are planned on the outside where work is done to improve the lighting of car parks and avenues of passage.

Other resources are essential to put their hands on the swimming pool area renovated for the Universiade but subsequently ransacked and damaged by criminals. Securing the latter and completing the newly approved works are essential for the subsequent reopening of the sports center in Barra or the eventual ban for efficient management after years of sport denied for thousands of athletes in the eastern area of ​​Naples, and beyond. Read the full article
on Il Mattino