SALERNO – The tornado has stopped time in Piazza Petti, rubble since September in the gardens abandoned to decay and never rearranged since the trees fell. Mortified the residents: “Unusable area, they forgot about us.” The red and white ribbons mark the edges of the gardens, steel barriers at each entrance, all this for nine months, because it was September 25, 2020 when a whirlwind from the sea upset Salerno causing extensive damage in various parts of the city but in particular at Torrione alto where several trees fell. Many of these in piazza Raffaele Petti where there are terraces, gardens between the buildings that represented an important “air outlet” for the residents.
Just yesterday, operators from the municipal administration proceeded to rearrange the tapes and barriers to avoid entrances into the park, barriers that had probably been moved by some citizen. “Time stopped in September 2020 – the smile and bitter words of a resident – The square has been like this since 25 September, when there was a sea horn and some trees fell, also causing damage to cars and buildings, we were scared a lot and from that day nothing ».
After five days the workers of the public green were put to work in charge of removing the trees that by now had yielded and destroyed sidewalks, flooring, railings and benches. From that moment on, the residents tell of a void that lasted nine months: no intervention was made unlike what happened in other areas of the city affected by bad weather in the same way. This is the case of the area in front of the Carlo Alberto Alemagna elementary school. The pavement of the square remains degraded, most of the trees are no longer there, only some plants among the untreated grass, among the abandoned waste, masks and anything else the sense of abandonment is evident.
“Who knows if this summer will pass like this as well, we understand that the income statement can be huge but it is not right to leave ourselves like this, we feel forgotten, abandoned, also because the area is officially unusable”, declares a resident of Piazza Petti. In the Torrione Alto area, the tornado caused considerable damage, especially from an economic point of view, also by virtue of a total refurbishment that has not yet taken place: according to a report drawn up at Palazzo di Città, the redevelopment it could cost the Municipality about 50 thousand euros, not only for the lost plants but for the damage to the road surface and everything to the public green complex. The lost trees, many of the Maliaceae family, originating in India, have reduced the area to shatters.
Lime trees have also been lost, which usually can even exceed centuries of life. Residents continue to ask for redevelopment: it seems that numerous calls and requests have already arrived at the Town Hall to provide for a revival project in the area. Some areas, moreover, seem to have been entrusted several years ago “for adoption” in order to carry out reclamation, improvements and constant maintenance while maintaining the peculiarity of public green. The damage, however, in all probability, exceeds the economic possibilities and everything was blocked at that event.
Marco Rarity