Ponte Sullo Strait, in Calabria and Sicily a surge in the real estate market is expected: the business of residences for offices and beds

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Three hundred buildings in Sicily and 150 in Calabria, including entire condominiums, for a total of approximately 4 thousand people involved. Over 3.7 million square meters of land, with various uses, canceled on both banks. In the middle there is the sea.

Territories between expropriations and construction sites

The expropriations for the construction of the Bridge over the Strait torment the communities of Villa San Giovanni and Messina. In the two cities affected by the work, entire neighbourhoods, high-density residential, commercial and tourist areas are destroyed: many citizens speak of it as an urban planning disaster. And even the mayors – Giusy Caminiti in Villa San Giovanni and Federico Basile in Messina -, waiting for their cities to change shape, live on tenterhooks.

Villa San Giovanni cut in half

Villa San Giovanni will be cut in two, from the sea to the mountains, between Cannitello and Piale: 4 tunnels will be dug near the motorway. A stretch of seafront, 400 meters from the small church of Santa Maria del Cannitello to the Sanctuary of Maria Santissima delle Grazie in Pezzo, will be sucked into the pillar of the bridge. The mayor of the Calabrian municipality, to protect residents affected by expropriation, formulates a clear request to the Stretto di Messina company: «Provide, in a suitable area, the construction of two-family houses. Given that the Bridge inhibits some building areas – states Caminiti – the building area might be moved to other land, keeping the land consumption of our municipality at zero”.

Messina, patchy construction sites

Messina will be dismembered from north to south, from Torre Faro to Contesse. The Annunziata area, which starts from the sea and arrives at the Giostra motorway junction, will be stripped of flesh by expropriations and enslavements. «We will have patchy construction sites – announces Basile, with some concern – and in many cases the work on the bridge will be added to others already underway. This means that the Strait Bridge will conform the entire city. And it also means that I must protect the territory first and foremost and in particular the areas at hydrogeological risk. And take care of those who will be expropriated. The problem is social. We have a large building heritage, we will ask for expropriations in areas.”

Compensation is not enough

Thus, tension grows on the fragile territories of the Strait Bridge. The provision of compensation does not appease the expropriated people, who instead organize themselves, protest, following the nopontists. Those who find themselves on the list of assets affected by “subservience” for public services also join: a sort of limbo for properties located close to construction sites. In many cases, owners will still have to leave their home for safety reasons, planning to return at the end of the work.