By the end of May the first part of the revolution affecting the station Of Lecce will come to fruition. What has long been one of the most important railway ports in the national tourist scene is the subject of a profound revolution. The square Oronzo Massari, which until last March was simply a car park, will soon, by the end of next month, present itself as an open space, capable of offering a splendid business card for all those who choose to reach the capital baroque in train. Certainly good news for the many tourists, and not only. At least travelers won’t have to cross a construction site, even if the problem of a lack of parking remains: the square, once finished, will be – as it should be – pedestrian. But the problem is that the car park serving what will be the new vehicular entrance to the station, i.e. the one on Viale Grassi, is not yet ready. So there is no way at the moment to get to the station by car.
The elevators
As the inconvenience remains (hopefully only for this year) due to the absence of elevators which forces passengers to carry their suitcases up and down the stairs. The good news is that RFI is ready to start redevelopment work on the station as soon as the Municipality’s construction site is closed, giving priority to the elevators. The hope is that the intervention requested by many parties – including by Mayor Carlo Salvemini himself – can be achieved at least by 2025. The next few months will certainly be very busy with a series of alternating construction sites (RFI will also intervene on the tracks and on the railway yard property).
The works on the square were financed with the savings from the project to overturn the station itself, amounting to approximately 1 million and 500 thousand euros of regional funds. A revolution that will subsequently (probably after the summer) also affect the right side of Piazzale Oronzo Massari, which will soon be redeveloped: by the end of November the entire area near the Lecce station (with what will be the pedestrian entrance once the long-awaited overturning takes place which will lead to car access on Viale Grassi) it will be completely renovated.
There is no shortage of interventions that also affect the neighboring streets. In fact, in these days, a new parking area for buses is being built in via Oronzo Quarta. Furthermore, taking advantage of this activity of the workers, AQP also intervened to carry out maintenance work on the water network. A redevelopment project that was possible thanks to the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (Pnrr) which allocated 700 million euros to improve the interaction between different modes of transport, with a careful eye on urban regeneration. Lecce station will be the first of nine intermodal hubs included in this vast program, marking a significant step towards a future of integrated and sustainable mobility. The technical-economic feasibility project presented by RFI (Italian Railway Network) aims to guarantee efficient access to railway services and improve the quality of the surrounding spaces. In collaboration with the Municipality of Lecce, RFI will invest approximately 14 million euros to radically transform the appearance and functionality of the station. The architectural and functional recovery of the building will be at the center of the project, with interventions on the facades and external floors to create a welcoming and accessible environment. There will also be particular attention to lighting which will play a key role in the interior design, guaranteeing not only aesthetics but also functionality through the use of stone slabs integrated with lighting devices and the insertion of plants in the waiting spaces . Environmental sustainability will be a priority, with the adoption of international best practices for the evaluation of the building’s energy and environmental performance. Accessibility will be improved with the installation of elevators and tactile paths, ensuring obstacle-free access for all passengers.
But the transformation does not stop at the station: the buildings and surrounding external spaces will become a connection point between different areas of the city, transforming an area currently perceived as detached into a vital node for users in transit, furthermore the highly anticipated elevators, which will connect the outermost tracks to the main building, thus making the Salento airport accessible. The former warehouse and other buildings will also be renovated and made accessible, helping to create a more inclusive urban environment. RFI is ready to start the works: to create the least inconvenience for passengers, the activity will begin only at the end of the one which is currently involving the Oronzo Massari square, with the aim of delivering the work by 2026, in in line with the constraints of European financing.
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© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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