De Pascale: “Ferrara and Ravenna are two series A cities of art but with a series B tourist flow”

“Ferrara and Ravenna are two class A cities of art but with a class B tourist flow”. This was said by the mayor of Ravenna Michele De Pascale during the Liberation Day organized by the Democratic Party of Ferrara while discussing with the mayoral candidate Fabio Anselmo.

All too flattering if we compare the data for the first quarter of 2024 with an influx of tourists in the Romagna municipality of 62,585 (+20.09% compared to 2023 and +17.9% compared to 2019) against the 43,096 of Ferrara (-13, 5% on 2023 and -15.9% on 2019). Overnight stays are no better with Ravenna reaching 176,635 (+18.3% on 2023 and +51.1% on 2019) compared to 95,860 in Ferrara (-4% on 2023 and +3.2% on 2019). Data that the Este administrators, from mayor Fabbri to councilors Fornasini and Gulinelli, have not yet commented on while mayor De Pascale analyzes and is not satisfied. In 2023 the influx into the Ravenna area was heavily reduced by the flood and despite this the numbers in the capital were more positive than in the Este area.

So what does it take to improve? Beyond the strategies that each individual city is responsible for, road and rail connections become fundamental. Connections that are not the direct responsibility of the mayor but which can be stimulated by him. “In your program – Anselmo tells De Pascale – the improvement of connections between our cities was envisaged”. Improvements that are not only useful for tourism but also for industry considering the interdependence of the two chemical centers but also the importance of the port of Ravenna for the arrival of goods.

In short, after the union of the Chambers of Commerce, “a marriage of convenience rather than love” admits De Pascale, a strategy is needed that best connects the two cities. A strategy that requires institutional interlocution but which does not appear to have occurred. “I don’t want to embarrass Michele – says Anselmo – but I don’t think you had any major discussions with Ferrara”. Shaking his head, the mayor confirms and adds: “No embarrassment.”

“Ferrara – explains Anselmo – must look to Ravenna and also to Bologna” to create profitable connections and because “our economy is languishing”. An economy that languishes in a “sleeping city” that is “afraid”, a fear that “we have seen in signing electoral lists” or “in accepting nominations”. A climate that Anselmo thinks is that of “a city where I spend a lot of time for an important trial” but which he doesn’t want to “disrespect”, Crotone. “The fact of being in the North should not make us think that we are immune to certain situations”.

A city that in order to recover needs to start from the territory and the creation of a “capillary credit network” but also from humanity which “must be placed at the center of politics”. “Seeing people who have such a noble sense of community that it makes you uncomfortable”, says Anselmo thinking about the meeting he had on Friday morning at Coop Castello, and who come to replace “the public to help the weakest, gave me an enormous boost”. And fundamental to “awakening” Ferrara are “welcome and work, real work”, not illegal and underpaid work. Ferrara is an aging city that loses its young people ready to move where they find better living conditions and instead Anselmo wants to transform it into a city where to stay and where to arrive.

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