LAUNCH. The lift tower in Via delle Ripe is finally taking its definitive design form, a connection between the Sant’Egidio car park and the historic centre, unique in its kind and with a strong scenographic impact, given its triangular shape and the position overlooking on one side the historic center and on the other, like a lighthouse, the entire surrounding panorama, from the Maiella to the peaks of the Gran Sasso. 28 meters high and made of iron and corten, the tower has been awaited for years and is intended, as conceived by the designer, the architect Nicola Di Biaseto change the face and destiny of the historic center.
The infrastructure was presented to the public during the administration led by Mario Pupillowith the work officially starting with the excavation of the area on which the base of the tower rests in November 2019, and is expected to resolve the chronic shortage of parking spaces in the historic center and in one of the most beautiful and most active areas of the old city , that is, that of the neighborhoods of Civitanova and Sacca where the splendid churches of Santa Giovina, Santa Maria Maggiore, San Nicola are located, and also the Montanare Towers, the citadel of music and the civic school, the house museum of Federico Spoltore, the headquarters of the curia, Palazzo Berenga.
But the construction site suffered several setbacks, first and foremost Covid, and progressed slowly for many months. So much so that the Municipality, since January 31st, has imposed the payment of a penalty of 200 euros per day on the company carrying out the works, Mcc srl. What slowed down the work were the difficulty of finding materials, but, above all, the particularity and complexity of the intervention which required as many as a thousand “customised” covering panels, i.e. shaped and drilled one by one to measure, none equal to the other.
In recent days, however, the work seems to be proceeding quickly with the paneling, which should be completed by the end of May. Then we will move on to the “landing pier”, i.e. the walkway that connects the lift tower to Via delle Ripe and, finally, to the installation of the lift which will have to be put into operation and tested.
Meanwhile we are witnessing, little by little, the birth of what, for the inhabitants of the historic center and the people of Lanciano, seems like a dream, also thanks to the futuristic choices made by the designer and by a pool of experts which involved landscape architects, agronomists, geologists, architects . The perforated panels that cover the internal steps, for example, from inside the bowels of the tower create a “sock effect” and it is like looking at the landscape from a very thin nylon weave which is instead Corten, a special resistant oxidized steel alloy to traction and oxidation which with atmospheric agents becomes orange in color, in perfect harmony with the chromaticity of the historic village. The triangular shape was also thought through: the beveled sides better resist the force of the winds.
The work, in which 772 thousand euros were invested, was followed step by step by the Superintendency of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape, which carried out several inspections also to possibly propose it again in other historic centres. The intervention, brand new of its kind, is to all intents and purposes the first modern building created around the old perimeter walls of the city. A triple bet for a new one skylineimproved accessibility to the historic center and a new architectural symbol that will distinguish the city.
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