LUCCA. The watershed of the never-ending story of the new Porta Elisa – which increasingly resembles the Lucchese nature of the “novella de’ bisconti” – is dated 26 April 2022, when the city council at the time gave the okay to the recognition of public interest and the green light at the services decision-making conference. For “Aurora Immobiliare srl” chaired by the entrepreneur Antonio Ciuffarella – representative of the Temporary Group of Companies which includes Lucchese 1905 and Consorzio Santa Rita – from that moment on the project becomes of public interest: «Through the Ceci law firm we will send a written warning to the Pardini administration in these hours so that the city council set for Thursday, the proceedings as announced in the latest press conferences are not cancelled. We have decided to present this warning to protect citizens. Because the consequences of the act announced by the municipal administration will lead to a civil lawsuit with compensation for damages linked to the financial loss due to the expenses incurred which are several hundred thousand euros and the loss of future profit on the work. And in the end, as usual, the citizens will pay the consequences of this act.”
Compensation for damage
«Until a month and a half ago – continues Ciuffarella – the municipal offices had assured us that everything was going well. I remember well how members of the new administration, who were in opposition at the time, pressed the old council on the time needed to complete the bureaucratic process.” Suddenly comes the about-face. «The latest one the other day: with a certified e-mail they inform us that they do not accept the requested extension of 150 days, motivating it with different deadlines linked to the sports facility. How could they think that in 10 days, a non-peremptory deadline, they could answer all those questions? Among other things, some of the Municipality’s requests were unrealizable and illegitimate and therefore we proposed to extend the deadlines, but faced with the Municipality’s blunt refusal I have already given a mandate to our lawyers to challenge the documents at the Regional Administrative Court of Tuscany, with all the requests of damage resulting from the huge sums already spent”.
The legal battle
«As Aurora Immobiliare we are sorry for the Municipality’s decision which deprives the city and the team of a great opportunity. – concludes the president of Aurora – It is the first time that a Municipality claims that a work carried out with entirely private funds is not economically sustainable, despite the fact that the Economic and Financial Plan of the Project has been certified according to law by an authorized body, thus certifying its sustainability. You see, if there had not been the declaration of public interest, the costs we incurred (feasibility studies, professional assignments, core sampling, plans, etc.) would have been borne by us and once the plan was presented the non-acceptance of our project financing by the administration or the municipal council who had every right to withdraw without the private individual being able to make any economic claims. Now the situation is different and we will go to all judicial offices to claim our right. An alternative project, like the one proposed by the Bulgarella Group? A minimal renovation of the Porta Elisa stadium is certainly not in our interest and, in our opinion, this would be unsustainable without public funds. Our project proposal includes a latest generation facility, worthy of a city that has ambitions of growth, development, services for the city and sustainability for the football team, a city like Lucca deserves this. An afterthought? We are skeptical on this point, but ready for dialogue.”
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