MESSINA – Between hell and heaven. Between misery and splendor. Between widespread poverty, on the one hand, and well-being and wealth on the other. It is not a song or an essay on politics or sociology. It’s Messina. And the priority is to rebuild it. Thus the space where the fish market and the department stores were located (in the photo) becomes the symbol of a post-war city. The city of a recovery that can only be architectural, social, cultural and environmental.
All this while a new degradation thrives in the spaces not yet returned to the city: the former Docker’s House and former Granai Silos, awaiting demolition; the former “Paradis” hotel and the former “Margherita”, with continuous fires, just to give some examples. And the race continues to rehabilitate and demolish the endless slums, another symbol of a city that for years has condemned itself to degradation.
And how can we forget the phantom spaces, such as the “Faro” motel and the Mortelle lido, an expression of a marginality that emerges in the city among a thousand streams and facets. A ghost Messina that must look at itself again and see its own image. And not that of the “rubbish” that spoils its beauty. Or that of buildings that have multiplied like mushrooms. And without rhyme or reason.
The priorities of a Messina to be rebuilt
There are remedies, therefore, but they require structural interventions. Some ongoing, such as the Fair; others, like the former “Margherita” or the falcata area, waiting for a turning point. There are many priorities for Messina: the recovery and valorisation of degraded spaces; an extraordinary plan, at European, national and regional level, with municipal support, to create jobs and a healthy economy in Sicily and the south; economic and social support for the weakest sections of the population.
Furthermore, job training and help in finding employment, regardless of age, are fundamental. At the center of every future scenario is the valorization of the new generations, strengthening the synergy with the University and the role of Messina in terms of international attractiveness, with students and doctoral students from all over the world. It already happens but it can become even more part of the “Messina project”. And, above all, we need a revolution in services and infrastructure, with non-biblical times for completing the works.
More State, schools and meeting spaces in the suburbs and everywhere
In essence, while the PNRR partly risks being a missed opportunity, a Keynesian plan is needed. An epochal project like the Roosevelt-style “New Deal” against the Great Depression or the Marshall Plan for the post-war period, with a central role for Europe. From a perspective of southern rebirth, we also need more state in the suburbs, to the point of demolishing the very concept of suburbia. Libraries, sports facilities, meeting spaces, schools open all day, health support, services and rights for all. And so much culture and entertainment, art, theatre, cinema, dance, drawing, literature should permeate and re-establish this city, while we try to take it away from the dictatorship of cars. Only in this way will the conditions be created for having a citizenship worthy of the name.
Even if liberalism has devoured many political conquests, without social justice, freedom and rights there can be no progress. And, without a strong European investment in the South, there will be no rebirth of the South and the Strait as a key place in a Mediterranean in search of redemption. Of rebirth while the deaths of migrants at sea and the winds of war represent two shames that call into question the entire West.
The bridging knot and the risk of paralysis
In this historical moment, in a city to be rebuilt, the bridge issue, regardless of how one thinks about the usefulness or otherwise of the great work, in terms of costs and benefits, risks paralyzing Messina. To throw her back into a cloud of uncertainty that will not allow her to rethink her future. There are too many question marks regarding the great work and the impact on an already precarious reality at an employment, economic and social level.
So, the doubt, and for some a belief, that another infrastructural development of the territory is possible, without the enormous impact of the bridge, represents an alternative to be evaluated. Messina and Sicily need a revolution in transport and services. The many question marks on the bridge, however, risk leaving the city of the Strait in a bubble of incompleteness.
To put it with De André, dear Messina and dear Sicily, but also dear Italy, in a Europe of peoples that is missing today, “will you continue to be chosen or will you finally choose?”. First of all, however, there is a lack of thought and political debate capable of measuring up to the drama of the times and the urgencies.
In essence, we are looking for ruling classes that are up to par and parties that are not liquids. Abstain old and new politicians without politics. The one with a capital p.
