This Saturday, several hundred demonstrators gathered in Cortina d’Ampezzo (Italy) to proclaim their opposition to the project to develop the Sliding Center for the next Winter Games in 2026, a few days following the start of the preparatory work. .
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A summer 2022, public meetings were held on the Angelo Dibona Square to inform the population regarding the vast project then under consideration – and already contested – around the development of a new bobsleigh, luge and skeleton track planned at the site of the historic site Eugene Monti which was the setting for the events during the Games of Cortina d’Ampezzo in 1956.
This weekend, the opponents of the project took over in this same central square of the village of the Dolomites in order to demonstrate their arguments once morest an event which they believe would be implemented to the detriment of local interests and the needs of the population.
At the initiative of Cortina Civic Committeesome 400 people thus mobilized on Saturday March 18 to put into perspective and contrast the Sliding Center project in the face of pending investments in several sectors.
The organizers took advantage of this gathering to affirm:
Enough of this irresponsible management.
There is no money for the renovation of the cinema, the swimming pool has been closed for 11 years, the cycle path is in a pitiful state, the maintenance of public buildings leaves something to be desired, the manhole covers are clogged. […]
The political line of the municipal administration is clear: yes to foreign interests, no to the needs of the citizens of Cortina.
This event takes place while the preparatory work for the dismantling of the runway Eugene Monti started at the end of February.
With an estimated cost of 2.2 million euros, this work should make it possible to preserve material elements identifiable with the historic structure which can be reused on the new equipment, while preparing the work to come consisting of the construction of a modern track intended to host the bobsleigh, luge and skeleton events during the Milan-Cortina 2026 Games.
Designed along a route that will partly take up the historical curve, the forthcoming development must also ensure complete integration into the surrounding spacewith also an expected recovery of the 7 hectares of the area of Snoring in order to resolve the current landscape discontinuities.
In total, the work should require a projected investment of at least 85 million euros, including 61 million presented for the sole development of the track and the technical and reception structures of the future Sliding Center.
