VELLETRI (current events) – Tour of approximately 7 km with easy altitude difference, approximately 3 hours.
ilmamilio.it – press release
The Committee for the Protection of the Alban Hills Woods invites everyone to participate in the next initiative which will take place on Saturday 4 May in Velletri.
It will be, once again, an opportunity to walk together along the paths of the Castelli Romani Regional Park and see the state of our coppiced woods.
The municipalities of the Castelli Romani sell to private companies the possibility of deforesting forest parcels for wood and these, having also obtained permits from the Park Authority, cut hectares and hectares of trees razed to the ground with the help of machinery that also devastates the undergrowth , leaving the paths closed to the passage of people on foot and by bike for months. All this for the sole profit of those who resell the wood.
Last March 12, the trial began against the company that manages the cutting of trees in 1/3 of the forests of the entire Monte Artemisio (Velletri). The accusation against the company that won the ten-year contract in 2018 is that of embezzlement for having cut many more trees than necessary.
The court heard the witnesses for the prosecution, including the then municipal councilor responsible for the forestry heritage of the Municipality of Velletri and the former forest policeman in charge of supervising the felling by the Municipality.
Both were firm in reiterating the accusations. The policeman claimed to have detected and forwarded to the Municipality of Velletri “the non-compliances found during the testing phase” and specified how “trees other than chestnut trees, including even an oak”, had also been cut down.
The defense asked to hear some new witnesses, which led to a postponement of the trial, even to February 4, 2025, almost a year!
In the meantime, the cutting of trees in the Monte Artemisio forest by the concessionaire company will continue given that the Municipality of Velletri has not deemed it necessary to take any measures in this regard.
We do not understand how it is possible that the company accused of the cuts continues to operate on the site, despite the Municipality of Velletri having formed a civil party in the trial.
We believe that the story, well exposed by local journalists, is shedding light on the interests that link the profits of private companies to political-administrative responsibilities.
We no longer know what to say about the Park Authority, given that in the ongoing criminal trial it didn’t even bother to join as a civil party to protect itself, the woods and ultimately us who live in this area.
WE ASK THE MUNICIPAL ADMINISTRATION OF VELLETRI TO IMMEDIATELY WITHDRAW THE CONCESSION TO THE COMPANY UNTIL THE COURT’S SENTENCE.
Let us remember that all this takes place in a historical phase of incredible climate change: the latter are caused precisely by the exploitation of the planet by human beings and are not so much the fault of individual citizens, but rather of companies that damage nature for profit. In fact, in the Park, companies dump tons of waste into the forest or open real highways with crawler vehicles, bulldozers and trucks to cut down millions of trees.
We underline that in recent weeks we have made formal reports to the Park Authority, to the Forest Carabinieri and to the Municipality of Rocca di Papa, to the Superintendence of Archaeological Heritage and to the GAL both for the cuts along the Via Sacra and for the Forcella area. We weren’t even worthy of a response.
At Forcella (Rocca di Papa) they destroyed a section of the horse trail, which cost around 200 thousand euros in public funds 13 years ago.
Right on Monte Artemisio the accused company is cutting on the most popular forest paths on the mountain, on the Maschio d’Ariano ridge and near Fonte Donzella.
Is this the idea of valorising the territory?
Now there is no path in the park that is not at risk of being cut (not even the archaeological areas!) and there are many that are formally forbidden.
If there is a lack of personnel for checks, if fines for companies are negligible and already taken into account, if the forestry plans of the various municipalities tend to maximize the areas to be exploited, if the bodies in charge look the other way, we must be the ones to commit to making sure that all this changes, and quickly.
And so we continue to build initiatives, to open disputes and to oppose those who have exchanged the Castelli Romani Park for a private woodshed.
Friday 3 May at 7.00 pm weekly meeting in the association headquarters in via Tevere 10 in Genzano.
Saturday 4 May everyone in Velletri, meeting at the cemetery car park at 9.00 to reach the starting point of one of the Artemisio paths with the least number of means of transport.
Saturday 11 May back to Velletri, this time in the historic center, for a public city meeting of which we will give specific communication in the next few days”.
