Building abuses in one of the 18th century Vesuvian Villasdemolition order and restoration of the state of the places notified to deputy of the 5 Star Movement Alessandro Caramiello. It is the new “case” that comes from Portici and which refers to some modifications carried out inside and outside an apartment in Villa Galloin Corso Garibaldi, where the parliamentarian lives together with his parents.
It all starts from an anonymous complaint in 2021, following which an inspection was carried out. In the house, the presence of a mezzanine unrelated to the cadastral records was detected, and a light iron structure covering the access area to the level terrace which was seized and, in 2022, temporarily released. The structure was later removed. The mezzanine, with a surface area of 18 square meters and divided into two rooms, was already present in the nineties and has remained there since then, despite the invitation. But the abuse story wasn’t over. Another complaint was followed by a further inspection in 2023. On that occasion it was noted that two narrow balconies, known as “Roman style”, had been replaced by a single balcony and that a window had been transformed into an access compartment to the balcony.
A report made by the Municipality of Portici to the Superintendence is dated 8 April 2024. The document explicitly refers to a list of violations and building violations within the property. In detail there is talk of “a mezzanine, two balconies, a window compartment”, for which the Authority has issued demolition orders, as well as some sanctions. Although, during the inspection on 10 April, the presence of a further window built without any authorization emerged. Which he generated a new visit by the municipal police last April 17th. Shortly before, Caramiello had relied on a party expert, an engineer who, in his report, asserted that the balconies had been built before 1942. The Municipality of Portici responded that the professional’s observations were not sufficient to establish the legitimacy of those which, in fact, remain abuses. And the ordinance remained standing. With respect to the provision, the owners of the apartment, the MP’s parents, have appealed to the TAR and the hearing has been set for November 19th.
Meanwhile, the reply from the M5S exponent arrives, attacking: “My family is not intimidated, show your face”, referring to a sort of fury perpetrated against him. A fury of a political nature. «Villa Gallo, one of the 31 eighteenth-century Vesuvian villas of Portici, has become the center of the world for the municipal administration of the city of the Reggia – he reports – The visits of the technicians and the municipal police to the villa can no longer be counted built by the President of the Court of Naples, Domenico Viola, in 1751. Perhaps because the Honorable Caramiello lives there with his elderly and sick parents?
The parliamentarian specifies: «For years the 5 Star Movement of Portici has been asking the administration for an operation of transparency and legality aimed at intercepting all episodes of illegal construction and more: from the 18th century villas demolished with a sponge blow to a market with numerous illegal sellers. In a municipality where, with the pass of a certain policy, illegality reigns supreme, I am surprised by the media attack that has seen me as the protagonist in the last few hours. – These accusations do not fall from the sky – he adds – but are the result of a demolition order issued, coincidentally, by the Municipality of Portici, an administration which – first as a councilor and now as a Member of Parliament – opposes it on a daily basis for the unfortunate management of the mayor ». Then he goes into detail: «First of all, it must be said that the property was purchased in the 70s by my parents». In ’98 the Ministry decreed that the Villa was subject to all provisions regarding the protection of properties to be protected. Subsequently, in 2008, «after many battles which saw my family on the front line, the renovation works began throughout the eighteenth-century villa, following up on other intervention works that had been present since the 1980s». Then Caramiello questions himself: «If the entire site is subject to the constraint of the Superintendence, and the latter has always issued the authorization to proceed with carrying out interventions, why does the Municipality arrogate itself the right to override the competent body? That is, if the Ministry’s peripheral actor never detected any discrepancies, enough to issue the permits, why did the administration – only following anonymous complaints, coincidentally – decide to target the property of my eighty-year-old parents? ».
Regarding the disputes, he further specifies: «The much disputed “supplement” (certainly not found in the very old plans) was present at the time of purchase of the apartment, and therefore well before the restriction was placed in ’98, as can be seen even from the minutes of a condominium meeting in 1918. Similarly, the two piperno balconies also date back to a historical moment prior to the purchase of the property, since – as appraised by sector technicians – the lava material used dates back to the 19th century . Having said this, my family has already appealed to the TAR, demonstrating with a technical report all the falsehoods orchestrated to target me.” Then on the building: «That Villa exudes history, it has seen a lot in these centuries, changes of ownership, construction, internal and external demolitions of the villa, thefts of statues, busts, columns, eruptions of Vesuvius and earthquakes. It has undergone continuous renovations and in 2008, after many battles that saw my family on the front line, renovation work began on the entire eighteenth-century villa.”
Everything becomes «a festival of the absurd when on 3 December 2021, at my parents’ house, following an anonymous complaint – at the time I was a city councilor – I invited surveyors from the technical office and three traffic policemen to verify the status of places.” An inspection, among other things, already carried out in 1993 following another complaint and after the father requested authorizations and obtained them from the municipality of Portici to demolish, build partitions and create new systems. It was 1991. In 1993 the police verified the presence of a “suppenno” inside the apartment. «Everything was sent to the prosecutor’s office in 1994 but no communication, no order ever reached my family either from the prosecutor’s office which archived everything or from the Municipality of Portici. After almost 30 years, the vigli returned and once again found the same “suppenno” already seen in 1993 and documented in a notarial deed from 1918″.
«The fury towards my elderly parents continued – adds Caramiello – On 28 November 2023, a new anonymous complaint was sent to the Municipality in which the presence of two balconies was reported”, pertaining to “my parents’ apartment”. The municipal surveyor asked for the cadastral plan. Since the plan could not be obtained from the land registry, the technician created an exact representation of the apartment and filed it with the land registry, which accepted it. “So much so that today – if you make a request to the land registry – there is the exact floor plan of my parents’ apartment.” In February, Caramiello «instructed the engineer who has been following the works at Villa Gallo since 1976 to draw up a technical report and communicated it to the Municipality. The professional sends a first report to the Municipality in which he describes that one of the two balconies is in piperno” and that “the construction typology, the objective difficulty of creating a piperno balcony today or after 1942 on an existing building removes any doubt on the dating of said balcony at least to the 19th century”. At the same time, the technician writes that: «It should be noted that on the same facade a similar balcony exists on the upper floor, the technology used certainly dating back to the period before 1942». Therefore, prior to the 1967 law, even in the Municipality of Portici, there was no obligation to previously issue the building permit for new buildings. «Despite the detailed and timely reports – says Caramiello – on 21 March the Municipality of Portici states that ‘the observations made by the professional in question regarding the period of construction of the balconies (before 1942) are not sufficient as documentation capable of establishing the effective legitimacy of the same and carries out a demolition order based on a cadastral plan which is not probative”.
Then the parliamentarian adds: «As the trusted technician told me, if one were to look for a cadastral plan of the Royal Palace of Portici and it presented some discrepancies, would the Royal Palace of Portici be illegal?».
Then he concludes: «We ask the municipal administration to carry out a timely check on all the historic buildings of Portici where there are 31 Vesuvian villas. Furthermore, the municipal police must combat all the illegal activity that exists in the Portici market on a daily basis. We have reported it several times but illegal construction continues to spread everywhere.”
