“Now the Piedmont Region calls the Baths”: everyone agrees after the no to the bonus

ACQUI TERME. “Let the Region intervene to recall the ownership of the Baths to its responsibilities”. The citizens’ association Rilanciamo Acqui and the Municipality take the field after the company, since 2016 in the hands of more than 80% of shares in the Genoese Finsystems srl of Alessandro Pater, has decided not to join the Bonus Terme promoted by the Ministry of Economic development and from Invitalia to give breath to the sector at national level.

It is a facility that provides for the reimbursement of 100% on the price of spa services, up to a maximum of 200 euros per person: from 8 November, customers will be able to request it directly from the establishments, to which the ministry will reimburse the amount due. But the Terme di Acqui do not take part in the initiative. “We did not join due to timing issues and, also, due to the lack of clarity that there was up to the last on the actual characteristics of the measures – explains the medical director, Giovanni Rebora -. We hope, however, that the second tranche of the Bonus will be foreseen in the spring: in that case, we will be there ».

At the moment, the Baths are operational with only the curative establishment in via XX Settembre, whose seasonal closure is scheduled for November 13, five days after the start of the Bonus, which must be spent within two months of purchase. Even extending the opening, one would have collided with a fundamental problem, for a facility designed above all to support the wellness sector: the Lago delle Sorgenti Spa has been closed for two years, that of the Grand Hotel for one. There would be no time to put them back in motion. And the management of Finsystems is increasingly criticized

The president of the citizens’ association Relaunch Acqui, Gualberto Ranieri, blurts out: «The increasingly brazen flight from the responsibilities of the Pater calls into question politics. How the national government moves if the large groups try to demobilize from Italy when it suits them, and we see it these days, here it is the Region, which is responsible for health care, that has to intervene with a “moral suasion” towards the Baths. We continue to talk about the Covid crisis, but now that there is concrete help, the company is watching ».

The reference is not only to the Bonus Terme but also to the Destination Acqui project, wanted by the Municipality to build discounted tourist packages thanks to the funds of Palazzo Levi (over 130 have already been sold), to which the Terme have not joined. Mayor Lorenzo Lucchini asks for regional intervention: «The non-participation in the Bonus Terme by the company is a sign of indifference that mortifies the city. We have already highlighted the problem in recent days to the Region, which must play a role of pressure towards a property that seems to have no entrepreneurial interest in its own structures. We are dealing with the appropriate institutions, asking for attention and targeted interventions ». We relaunch Acqui promises initiatives: perhaps, as is already being advocated on social media, we will get to take to the streets.