Strolling through Florence is the dream of many tourists and vacationers in Italy. But an innovation is not going down well with locals.
Florence – Florence, the famous city in Tuscany, attracts a large number of tourists every year due to its historical importance. However, the number of visitors pushes the metropolis to its limits. To counteract this, a building from the 16th century is now intended to direct the flow of visitors and thus relieve the city. While vacationers in Italy can look forward to a new attraction, there is resistance among the locals.
Mega tunnel from the Middle Ages for tourist rush in Italian stronghold
The President of Tuscany, Eugenio Giani, and the Mayor Sara Funaro have agreed on a project that will see the reopening of a long-unused tunnel, as firenzetoday.it reported. This is intended to redirect the flow of tourists and thus relieve the city. The cost of restoring the tunnel is 7.5 million euros. The tunnel is intended to connect the medieval tower Torre della Zecca with Piazza Poggi, located in one of the oldest districts of Florence, San Niccolò.
Giani is from toscana-notizie.it quoted as saying: “It is an intervention that is close to my heart and that aims to create a new route for tourism, but not only”. He adds: “And if the tunnel under the Arno served then as a passage for workers and services, today it will serve tourists and residents who want to choose an alternative and fascinating route that allows those traveling by bus along the banks of the Arno arrive to reappear. Take a few steps on foot in Oltrarno and visit an important and suggestive part of Florence”.
The mayor wants to make the tourist innovation palatable to citizens, but they are resisting
Mayor Sara Furano is excited about the “hidden part of her city” that tourists can now discover. “We would like to complete the project around 2026, but that is due to the condition of the tunnel,” says Giani theflorentine.net quoted. “If the old tunnel under the Arno is accessible, it will allow the residents of Florence to rediscover a hidden part of their city and allow tourists to take an alternative route to Oltrarno and change the flow of tourists,” said Furano, who had to come to terms with that Florence is not considered the most livable city.
In addition to the tunnel, the tram lines are also to be expanded. “There is an opportunity for both citizens and tourists to have more access points. “In addition, this walkway, which has a story to tell, gives us the opportunity to divert the strong currents that start between Torre della Zecca and Piazza Santa Croce,” adds Funaro La Nazione quoted.
However, the locals react with criticism to the planned innovations corrierefiorentino.it writes. “Tourism has taken away the post office, the greengrocer, the polling station, the delicatessen, the bookstore,” complain the residents of San Niccolò, south of the Arno. “The idea is not ours,” says a speaker in a historic district. “We will send a letter to the region, the community and the neighborhood to express our opposition.” They fear an “invasion,” as can be read in the gazettes.
“Harmful for the city”: Several residents of the old town take to the barricades
Some residents fear the new tunnel will attract even more people to the area. “Hoards of tourists are already streaming through here to get to the piazzale, with the opening of the tunnel even more tourists will arrive and the district will completely change,” says a resident. “The tunnel would be an insane expense to undertake a project that is not only useless but harmful to the city and the neighborhood,” it continued.
The opinions of business and locals differ in many tourist hotspots. In Liguria an unusual phenomenon affected both parties. How the fronts in Florence will develop remains to be seen. (ank)
#Italians #rage #flood #holidaymakers #metropolis #medieval #solution #Harmful #city