Reggio Calabria, Aloisio (Confesercenti): “We must decide what the city wants to be once and for all”

In Rome there is Trastevere, Campo De’ Fiori, San Lorenzo just to name some of the most well-known, popular and publicized places of the Capitoline nightlife. In Milan, however, there are the Navigli, Corso Como, the Idroscalo and in Florence San Giovanni, Santa Croce, Santo Spirito. I could continue with dozens of other cities that have made tourism a real driving force for economic development and in which, in all of them, there is one constant: the valorisation of these areas as attractive points.

Streets with places located next to each other, be they restaurants, pizzerias, pubs, trattorias and anything else that are “celebrated” in the tourist sites of each city. Rome, for example, describes itself as follows on its official website: “Rome is a metropolis that offers endless opportunities for entertainment, with hundreds of cocktail barrooms with live music And discosin which you can immerse yourself in the lively Roman nightlife and live a unique and unforgettable experience.”

And Reggio? In our city where for years, decades, we have been babbling about tourism, most of the time in vain, ignoring the complexity of the topic, what is happening? Are there attractive areas with venues that offer varied and quality experiences? The answer is yes. There are. Beyond the many excellent restaurants located in the streets of the historic center and beyond, there are places where there is a concentration of restaurant activities of all kinds: Piazza Duomo, Via Zecca, Via Zaleucus, not to mention, obviously, the Lungomare, are places where many places have been born that collaborate, create synergies and attract people from Reggio and tourists who meet to eat, listen to music, drink a beer, a cocktail, have fun with friends. Places that should be valorised as real tourist attractions that can best welcome those who come to visit our city.

But unfortunately, obvious and common sense things often do not have the right to citizenship in our country. Reggio is a strange city where, in the face of a devastating crisis in the commercial fabric, people are thinking of doubling the cost of parking, of closing gazebos and outdoor spaces for which, after months, authorization has not been issued despite the presence of regular questions and payments, where nowadays the notice for the assignment of the kiosks on the via marina was not issued, where within the traffic system there are no stay the ways to be transformed into have yet been established ztl or pedestrian areas, where instead of supporting one of the few sectors that still holds up, that of public businesses which creates employment, it contributes significantly to the asphyxiated city economy, offers a service to the community given that even the recreational part contributes to well-being and quality of life, and it is indispensable for a tourist offer worthy of the name, the conditions are created to hinder it.

Let’s be clear: the “nightlife” must be governed and regulated, there is no doubt about this. Nobody, certainly not us or our associates, wants a “wild west” that creates problems or jeopardizes public order and peace. On the other hand, it is not even conceivable to exaggerate by showing up punctually at the busiest times and days every week to carry out checks that are frankly useless and sometimes vaguely oppressive in terms of attitude and requests. What’s the point of asking a local for permits to occupy public land at one in the morning? These permits are issued by the Municipality which obviously knows very well who is in compliance and who is not without the need to ask the entrepreneur for them while he is busy serving his customers. What is the point of imposing the closure of background music inside the premises when this is not prohibited by any national law and in Reggio, moreover, the concept is reiterated from a very clear union ordinance that leaves no room for any interpretation? Or issue fines “by ear” by evaluating in a personal and for this reason very questionable way whether the internal music drowns out the voices of the people, instead of using the instruments intended for measuring sound?

I want to reiterate this just so as not to generate any kind of doubt or ambiguity about Confesercenti’s position: the rules that exist must be respected and whoever does not do so assumes responsibility and consequences. That said, entrepreneurs to be able tothe respectAnd they must have certainty about the rules and their correct application and cannot be subjected to continuous controls or be hostage to delays, inefficiencies and political and bureaucratic slowness.

But above all, and here it is not just a question of rules but of vision and political direction, we must decide what Reggio Calabria wants to be once and for all: a tourist city that organizes itself to offer a welcome worthy of the name and that makes tourism The own driving force of development or a dying city that is becoming depopulated, where the shops close one after the other and where the few entrepreneurs who believe in it, risk their own and provide work directly and indirectly, through related industries, to thousands of families, instead of being supported are they hindered?

New Ryanair flights are arriving and entrepreneurs are ready to face this challenge if allowed. But is politics? Because one of the first things that should have been done, a discussion to develop a shared program with the social and economic parties, has never been implemented and the decisions, when there are any, are currently taken in splendid solitude and made known through the media.

We do not believe this is the way to seize the unrepeatable opportunity that is presenting itself to us and for this reason we ask that the Mayor organize a discussion with all the social partners as soon as possible in order to be able to reason, in light of the expected and now imminent new arrivals, on the tourism future of our territory.

Claudio Aloisio

President of Confesercenti Reggio Calabria