Yesterday morning a group of people attempted to return to a vacated building via Dante Alighieri: the intervention of the public force was necessary to bring them back to reason. Pozzuoli can’t take it anymore, he struggles between fear and the desire to recover normality.
Pozzuoli watches what is happening in Rome and sends a precise message: «We will not leave here, even if the Government promises funding to those who decide to leave spontaneously». The concepts are the same, the words different, the feeling is one: «If I had to say goodbye to my Pozzuoli I would die. No, I don’t even want to think about it.” Rosaria Saughelli she speaks on the threshold of the bakery where she works and her eyes swell with tears. Since the earthquake, no one has come to buy bread, pizzas or taralli, but she doesn’t give up: «Pozzuoli is tenacious, she will recover. Nobody will go away.”
The video and photos of the protagonists of this story can be found on the Il Mattino web page and on our social networks; the story continues from Francesco Volpe who kneads and keeps the oven on even if he has little to bake: «Of course, when faced with the most powerful shocks you want to leave. But it is only the reaction to fear. If I have to think about it rationally I say that no, I wouldn’t accept funding to leave.”
Most of the people we intercepted yesterday think so. There are only two counter-current voices, the first is that of Amar Khaled who has been living in a tent in front of the port since Monday evening with his wife and a little girl: «The house is not usable, the future is uncertain. I’m a pizza chef and I leave my family alone for the whole day in this tent. If they gave me a little money I would leave right away.” The other one is ready to give up everything Antonio Cacciapuoti which manages theBorgo coffee” in front of the port: «Of course I would leave. The fear is too much, the difficulties almost insurmountable. However, the Ministry’s contribution should be adequate to allow me to start again elsewhere.”
There is a strange sensation of still, immobile waiting. The schools, by decision of the mayor, will no longer be reopened today but next Monday, with the exception of the six that need maintenance after the tremors (the primary schools Artiaco and the Montenuovo plexusaverage Dianohigh school Virgil, Pareto And Tassinari); there ferris wheel of Via Napoli will be dismantled, on the orders of the mayor, after protests from citizens worried about the possibility of collapse due to a more intense earthquake; in via Pergolesi (immediately closed to traffic) a chasm appeared which, perhaps, had nothing to do with bradyseism but which was immediately attributed to the tremors.
How do you live in a situation of constant tension? Domenico Coppola he was a boy when he was evicted in 1970 from Rione Terra, he shows the photo of that day and smiles «we are used to it, we who have become old live with bradyseism and accept it. Escape? I don’t even think about it.” She nods Carlotta Barone who is young, smiles and appears very tenacious: «I went to work in Emilia, I came back here because my land called me. I won’t leave, not even if they shower me with gold to escape. I’m fighting for my Pozzuoli and no one can stop me.” Her words are strong and yet they clash with the reality that imposes fear and tremors: «Of course I’m afraid – Carlotta doesn’t lie – but she won’t be the one to convince me that escape is the best solution».
In the almost deserted streets of Pozzuoli, which still darkens at the thought of last Monday’s powerful earthquake, traders continually refer to the days of lockdown: «It feels like we’ve gone back – Carla Peperusso appears on the threshold of his shop, Star Sports – but now it’s worse, because during Covid people were looking for any excuse to go out and there were more of them on the streets. Now they are all locked inside because fear is winning.”
The nun
Sister Marilena she comes from Lombardy, she brings her sweet smile through the streets of Pozzuoli which adopted her, she explains that «it is impossible to think that people are willing to leave their things, places, their history. Who would do it? It is not possible to think of such a solution.” She speaks and spreads serenity: «They say help yourself, God helps you. Here, people must do everything possible to be ready to save themselves, they must check that their houses are solid, learn what to do in case of emergency…”.
Carla Peperusso returns to the charge, she does so with anger: «Give up everything and think about leaving? But where? We would have to start from scratch, reinvent a job, find a new home, learn a new life. Who can think that such a solution is viable?”.
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The morning
