Of DOMENICO MAZZA – A topic that has been debated for some time comes back to the fore once again. The idea, which is carving out more and more space between Catanzaro and Lamezia, is that of an administrative relaunch of the narrowest point in Italy: the isthmus. This time, the theme is proposed again by an association from Lamezia which promotes the desire to establish a new large city in the strip of land between the Tyrrhenian and the Ionian Sea.
I was very struck by the explanations provided by the representatives of the Movement for the relaunch of the perspective: «Giving a new face to Calabria in the central part of its territory».
Reasons that are not far-fetched at all, rather dictated by the observation of a delay that the central area of Calabria would suffer compared to the more emenciated contexts of Cosenza-Rende and the metropolitan city of Reggio Calabria. A new narrative is therefore emerging aimed at constituting the first urban area of the Region. As stated, so that the isthymic area returns in a disruptive manner to the decision-making dynamics of historical Calabrian centralism. The same system of political power that, historically, has characterized the Calabria region as a territory divided into three heads. Therefore – having established a series of variables that in the last decade would have graced the City of Bruzia and that of the Strait, contrary to what happened in Catanzaro and Lamezia – a segment of thought was traced to imagine a rebirth of the central regional context.
In all this reasoning, the directional areas of the Region (RC, CZ-Lamezia, CS-Rende), each for its own part (Reggio already Metropolitan City, CS-Rende-Castrolibero close to the administrative merger and CZ-Lamezia about to lay the foundations for the establishment of a new City of the Isthmus), continue to design political strategies aimed at maintaining central roles in regional decision-making processes.
The Ionian suburbs, on the other hand, probably because they are not yet aware that they represent a quarter of the entire regional population, quisquiliano in search of some Saint to vote for. I am alluding to the Crotone area and the Sibaritide, historical marginal appendages of their respective historical centralisms.
Yet, the data collected in the latest Svimez Report on Irpef per capita income leaves no room for misunderstandings: Crotone is last among the capitals and Corigliano-Rossano brings up the rear of the Calabrian cities for per capita income. The first registers around 17 thousand and the second does not go beyond 14 thousand, compared to a range between 21 and 19 thousand euros per capita in the historic capitals.
What has been reported should encourage the Ionian ruling classes to study solutions to distance the two cities and the communities opposite them from the edge of the abyss. The creation of a new and more qualified job offer should be an imperative to curb the rampant demographic impoverishment of a context that today appears without the slightest prospect of growth.
Even a child would understand that, in the case of Corigliano-Rossano, the administrative merger alone is not enough. Just as, in the Pythagorean contingency, it will certainly not be the next reintroduction of universal suffrage to the intermediate body that will change the narrative of the places.
An administrative resurgence process that restores the Ionian Arch to its rightful centrality is more necessary than ever. It is time that in Corigliano-Rossano we seriously start talking about the capital and in Crotone about the enlargement of a succinct and impalpable provincial area. If nothing else, to constitute a management embryo that can, reasonably, act as a collector between the Lucanian, Bruzio and Isthmus contexts and as a functional hinge between the Strait area and Puglia.
It is imperative to lay the foundations for the creation of a directional humus along the area between the Sibaritide and the Crotone area. The next investments planned in the infrastructural field, on the other hand, will not benefit the Ionian urban centres. The planned interventions along the state road 106 do not bring the cities of Corigliano-Rossano and Crotone closer. Furthermore, the reckless route of the new AV cuts off the Ionian Sea. Awareness is necessary on the part of the Administrators. There is a need for more State along the Ionian Arc….
There is a need, above all, to re-establish processes of equal dignity and territorial equity between the far east of Calabria and the rest of the regional territories. It is not possible to witness the usual summary that sees north-eastern Calabria as the narrative of Europe’s Cinderella. You need to have the courage to dare: you need challenging ideas, not poor designs. Politics roll up its sleeves and try to map a new horizon of social growth. We are extremely late, but there is still time to develop a renewed relaunch perspective that restores development and well-being to the Arco Jonico. (dm)
