LIVORNO. The stairs are no longer there and the wood eaten away by time falls down piece by piece, leaving nothing but rusty skeletons visible. Ruins with a past made of life and hope. Ruins in search of a future yet to be built. Once upon a time there were nine businesses in the six shacks on the seafront. Then five. Then four. At the end of 2023, Zanzibar and Il Delfino closed shop. And there are two left. The L’Onda fry shop and the Grotta Blu ice cream shop are resisting, but «no one has been seen here for months – says Andrea La Bruna, owner of the La Grotta Blu ice cream shop -, they should have come to repair the structure. And this in October. But nothing.” Also because last August, a few meters above its entrance, a wooden staircase gave way. That afternoon was marked by an endless coming and going of municipal police and firefighters. Then half the square was cordoned off. And the barriers are still there. For safety. Because if part of a wall or ceiling were to collapse, it wouldn’t be the first time. They are still there, dotting three small squares where there are no longer any bars or restaurants.
The project
For those little stalls born in 2003 from the dream of a different seafront, the Municipality has a project. And it’s worth six million euros. He wants to demolish them all. To then rebuild others. Only three though: one in front of the Nazario Sauro pier, one in front of the Queen’s rock and one in front of the Aquarium. Or rather, the intention is that the reconstruction should take place through a system of partnership between public and private. The new manager will present and implement the project, taking on the costs and then gradually separating them from the value of the concession, the duration of which must be established in the assignment notice. All not to one’s personal taste, but following the guidelines contained in the Municipality’s master plan, which embraces the overall conformation of the seafront from the Cantieri to Piazza San Jacopo in Acquaviva. The gear to be activated to start this mechanism of rebirth from the ashes is the publication of the tender for the assignment of the first booth, the one in front of the Aquarium. At least that’s what was said when that plan was illustrated. Announced for the end of last year, but apparently there is still some work to be done on the tender.
Seafront mausoleum
Meanwhile the seafront is a mausoleum of dilapidated huts. With the load-bearing planks faded by the sun and becoming sponges of rain. With rooms half closed and half open, upside down. With the silence of absence where once there was life. Before its crumbling, the Tiburon square was a walkway. Years ago, to give some examples, in the shacks there were the former Chalet Mauri and the Alpe. Zanzibar and the Dolphin. The latter two closed with expired concessions between September and October last year. And what’s coming will be a summer without bars in the shacks. The first. Then, among buildings whose identity peeks out from the past through yellowed glass windows, here appear the chairs and tables of the chip shop and the Blue Grotto.
«Our concession expires in 2027 – says La Bruna -. But we are still waiting to understand what will happen.” Will the huts remaining on the seafront be demolished? And, above all, when?
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