From tomorrow, Saturday 30 March, Piazza San Francesco in Catania, also known as Piazza Cardinale Dusmet, will be a pedestrian area.
The Municipal Administration of Mayor Trantino has decided to make operational the plan planned for some time which provided for the complete ban on vehicular traffic and the pedestrianization of that area too.
Piazza San Francesco is the space adjacent to Via Crociferi, where there is the Vincenzo Bellini house-museum and the Cigno multimedia museum. The closure of this square to vehicular traffic effectively represents pedestrian continuity with Piazza Mazzini which was closed to cars in recent months.
Trantino’s decision, implemented in agreement with the deputy mayor with responsibility for mobility Paolo La Greca and effective from tomorrow, is aimed at making it easier and safer for pedestrians to view the beauty of the open space in front of the church of San Francesco D’Assisi with the monument to the blessed Cardinal Dusmet and the spaces dedicated to Bellini in the Gravina Cruyllas palace overlooking the square.
But let’s talk about vehicular mobility. Now, to reach via San Giuseppe al Duomo, cars coming from via Teatro Greco will have to take via San Francesco, an artery where the direction of travel was reversed two months ago, precisely to facilitate the traffic flow in the direction of the Police Headquarters area.
“Piazza San Francesco, whose access to motorized vehicles will be prevented by flower boxes – said Mayor Trantino – is one of the most popular stops for tourists visiting Catania, who will no longer have to wriggle between cars and motorcycles to visit this historic part of Catania . In this space adjacent to Via Crociferi, which in fact represents the pedestrian continuity with Piazza Mazzini which was closed to cars in recent months, we have the house-museum that was the birthplace of Vincenzo Bellini and the splendid multimedia museum of the Swan, two almost obligatory stops for those who visit our city, without any particular disruptions to the routes of motorists and motorcyclists”.
