The Honorable Replies to the Mayor
We receive and publish a note from the Honorable Alessandro Caramiello replying to the mayor of Portici, Vincenzo Cuomo.
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«For years the 5 Star Movement of Portici has been asking the Administration for a transparency and legality operation aimed at intercepting all episodes of illegal building: from the 18th century villas demolished with a swipe of the sponge to a market which contains numerous illegal sellers» .
«In a municipality where, with the pass of certain politics, illegality reigns supreme, I am surprised by the media attack that has seen me as the protagonist in recent days. As I learned from the press, my parents were accused of being the owners of a house which has a “mezzanine which is not included in the cadastral records” and “two narrow balconies, called Roman-style, later replaced by a single balcony” and that “a window is been transformed into an access area to the balcony”.
«These accusations do not fall from the sky, 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 First Citizen. But, I prefer to get into the matter, dismantling the castle of falsehoods and lies artfully constructed to discredit my figure, shamefully exploiting the skin of my father and mother, who are seriously ill.”
«First of all, it must be said that the property, located in a Vesuvian Villa dating back to 1751, was purchased in the 1970s by my parents, a decade in which it was included by the Minister for Cultural Heritage in the list of 18th century Vesuvian villas to be restored . For this reason in ’98 the Ministry decreed that the Villa was subjected to all provisions regarding the protection of properties that present an artistic, historical and archaeological interest, as communicated by the Superintendency to the municipality of Portici in that year too” .
The renovation works
«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. Here, at this point the doubt is legitimate: if the entire site is subject to the constraints of the Superintendency, and the latter has always issued the authorization to proceed with the implementation of interventions, why does the Municipality arrogate itself the right to override the Superintendence ?”
«That is, if the peripheral body of the Ministry has never detected any discrepancies, enough to issue the permits, why did the Administration – only following anonymous complaints, coincidentally – decide to target my parents’ property? »
«Now, net of the fact that the Municipality has no right to question the work of the Superintendence, it should also be pointed out that the much disputed mezzanine (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 even be seen from the minutes of a condominium meeting in 1918 and from photographic evidence from the 1960s. 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, and therefore prior to a law of ’67 which imposed the obligation of prior issuing of the building permit for new buildings. Having said this, my family has already appealed to the TAR, demonstrating with a technical report all the falsehoods orchestrated to target me.”
Caramiello: «I won’t retreat a millimeter»
«Finally, as if that wasn’t enough, the Mayor of Portici violated my privacy and that of my parents, first by publishing the exact location of the apartment in which we live and then, even, by slamming it in the public square, once again on social media , a private conversation of mine with one of our fellow citizens. In particular, Cuomo made public a fragment of a private conversation between me and a lady. For this reason, in addition to informing my colleague Elly Schlein and other PD leaders of the ‘Portici case’, he will take the Mayor to court. Therefore, I will not retreat an inch, on the contrary, the more they want to hit me, the more I will continue to denounce and ask the people of Portici for real change for the city of the Royal Palace.”
