Construction work has begun on the 4-storey condominium in Viale Italia, the last piece of the regeneration project of the area formerly occupied by the convent of Santa Chiara, started in 2007. The intervention is carried out by the Romeo Lippi Immobiliare company, based on the project by architect Claudio Albonetti of Studio Bacchi Architetti Associati.
«Concretely – declares the professional – 14 apartments will be built, 12 on three floors and 2 in the attic, for a floor area of approximately 1,700 m2.». Once the work is completed, the recovery of the former abandoned Monti area (the other name of the site, from the ice house operating on site in the first half of the 20th century) will be definitively completed, characterized by a so-called “Large Area” of 15,562 m2 ., located between via Dandolo and viale Italia, in which in recent years a private residential area of 9,800 m2, a public car park with 48 parking spaces (for a fee), an archaeological park, cycle and pedestrian paths and lastly a space public green space of 6,324 m2, sold to the Municipality in 2020.
The other portion of the former convent, the small area, located on the other side of Viale Italia, gravitates around the building built in 2010, hosting tertiary activities with shops and offices, including the headquarters of the Order of Doctors and It also includes private parking for public use. Called Santa Chiara, from the name of the ancient Franciscan monastery razed to the ground in the Napoleonic age, the area of almost 20,000 square meters and approximately rectangular in shape, is included between the current Via Battuti Rossi, Dandolo and Forlanini (which marks two sides ) and is cut diagonally by Viale Italia.
In 2016, Immobiliare Santa Chiara, owner of the sector, entrusted the company Adriatica Costruzioni Cervia with the completion of the project, prepared in 2007 by Studio Bacchi Architetti Associati of Forlì and suspended in 2012 due to the crisis in the construction sector and the liquidation of the company Scoes company. The delivery of the newly built condominium will take a couple of years: it is a forecast that also takes into account the potential presence of archaeological finds underground: «The superintendency will monitor the excavation work step by step – concludes Albonetti – even if I don’t believe they will be major surprises, as the area has already been carefully explored in the past.”
The foundation of the convent by the Poor Sisters of Santa Chiara, now living in the nearby site of San Biagio, dates back to 1256. Luigi Belli, the fixer who bought it at auction in 1806 from the French occupation government, almost destroyed it entirely, leaving some minor internal buildings and the surrounding ramparts standing. In 1908 the Monti company took over, which dealt with the export of poultry and had a refrigerator installed for the production of ice. The perimeter walls were in turn largely demolished in 1954 by the construction site for the construction of the new northern ring road of the city, which later became Viale Italia.
