Blitz on August 15th at the Port of Talamone
Lightning green light from the Orbetello Municipality administration to the plan for the renovation of the jewel in the Maremma Park. The council changes its mind in a few months, withdraws from the control room and leaves everything in private hands. The risks for the economy of the country that hosted Garibaldi during the Expedition of the Thousand.
A blitz on August 15th, to give a boost to the renovation of the Port of Talamone, a small seaside town in Tuscany. It is the jewel of the Maremma Park. We are in the province of Grosseto, Municipality of Orbetello, the lagoon town that this summer has had to deal with excessively high water temperatures, causing a sudden death of fish. A real disaster, origin, among other things, of no small inconvenience to tourists and residents due to the bad smell caused by tens of thousands of carcasses of eels, sea breams and sea bass, with consequent economic damage to tourism operators. The fact is that, in a summer emergency situation, not easy to manage, the municipal administration led by mayor Andrea Casamenti, elected with the centre-right, had time, around mid-August, to deliberate a request for a concession aimed at transforming the Talamone landing place into a tourist port. A hypothesis that has been discussed for years and that, last week, the Municipality of Orbetello has hinged on the fast track: in fact, the notice of publication of the application for the concession for the marina is dated August 13 and the determination of the tender office that assigns the deal to a very small company formed by a small group of local entrepreneurs, Società Porto Turistico di Talamone, was signed on August 16, therefore just three days later. The document has been public since August 20.
In short, an obvious coupeven if the game for the Talamona port is not over: because there will be the prescribed 90 days, starting from the imminent publication in the Official Gazette, both to present alternative proposals by competitors and to contest the project presented (and quickly approved) by the company currently favored. The matter, in any case, raises some doubts and has sparked a lively debate in the historic town that in 1860 hosted Giuseppe Garibaldi for a few days during the Expedition of the Thousand.
: Technicians and lawyers are studying the dossier. If, on the one hand, the master plan and the port development plan provide for the transformation of the Talamone landing place into a tourist port, there appear to be many critical issues related to the full operation and capacity of the bay in addition to the fact that doubts are arising about the future direct connection with the country. Without forgetting that such a large plan runs the risk of starting a construction site that would not be completed before 7-8 years, with all due respect to the 600 existing berths, used by holidaymakers and residents, with consequent economic damage to the entire country. Then there are those who wonder about the real reasons that push the Municipality of Orbetello to venture into this area, considering that, a few kilometers away, there are two resounding “flops” that are there for all to see: one is that of the port of Cala Galera (south of Talamone, in the Municipality of Monte Argentario); the other, to the north, is that of Marina di Grosseto. Two negative precedents that would suggest caution and not sudden rushes forward.
For this reason, the management of the assignment procedure represents the main issue on which the attention of the professionals is concentrated.. The port of Talamone has been discussed, as mentioned, for at least a decade, but it was in 2023 that the Municipality of Orbetello actually opened the file. In July of last year, the city council had identified the various technical-legal options to evaluate the path and created a specific working group. A few months passed and, on November 29, the Società Porto Turistico di Talamone, established on August 2 with a deed by the notary Bruno Detti from Orbetello, presented its (first) preliminary project. That attempt to get its hands on the Maremma dock, however, came to nothing: on December 29, the Municipality officially declared its “no” to the request of the small LLC from Talamona. Two weeks earlier, on December 15, the concession solution had been negatively evaluated, with the pre-feasibility study: a firm denial, accompanied by the veto of the urban planning offices.
At that stage, the “private” solution was not seen favorably. A report discussed by the City Council on December 21, 2023 explicitly criticizes the concession route. For this reason, the Municipality formally expressed its preference for the “Stu” option, or urban transformation company: this is a solution for the construction of public works that leaves the direction of the construction sites and the subsequent management of the infrastructure built in the hands of the public administration, albeit with the involvement of private entities. “The Municipality must be the director,” said Mayor Casamenti during the Council, emphasizing that he wanted to “guarantee and limit as much as possible the risks, which may exist, but which cannot be predicted today. We are starting a long journey.” Not too long, actually.
The fact is that the Talamone Tourist Port Company, on March 12th, presented an appeal to the TAR of Tuscany, which has yet to pronounce itself, against the “no” of the Municipality. It seemed like the beginning of a long tug of war. And, instead, on June 10 the company presented additions to the project, on which there has been no transparency so far. That was enough, however, to make the Casamenti council change its mind, on July 10: no “Stu”, we return to direct concession to private individuals. Solution officially communicated, announcing the publication of the request, eight days later, by the Municipality, during a meeting to which all the current operators had been summoned. At that meeting, the Orbetello administration had made clear its intention to proceed together. But then it ended differently. The rest is the blitz of Ferragosto.
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