Work in Piazza Chiarino, ultimatum expired – L’Aquila

THE EAGLE. A mosaic of tiles to be juxtaposed, art enthusiasts would define it. A puzzle or Tetris for the younger ones. Or more simply a hassle from the point of view of traders, who have been waiting for months for everything to fall into place once and for all. The reopening of Piazza Chiarino, one of the symbolic places of L’Aquila’s post-earthquake restart, has been postponed for another forty days, as well as, to date, one of the greatest examples of commercial resilience in the entire historic centre, similarly subjected in several places to the current work of restyling urban planning. One of the reasons for the further slippage would lie, in fact, precisely in the different conformation of the tiles of the new paving, which will have to be arranged according to the unavoidable requirements of the Superintendence, which would be doubling the time required for completion of the works and, therefore, for the return of the square. And while the paving along the street proceeds, leaving behind a long trail of discontent in those who have seen, in recent times, the construction site moving ever closer to its shop windows, for the activities in Piazza Chiarino and those in Via Garibaldi it seems instead there is no peace. A delay that adds to the previous ones, with the first useful date initially scheduled for March 3rd and then exceeded due to an initial slippage which could have been affected, last October, by the discovery of a medieval statue and some traces of ancient burials, with the president of Fipe Confcommercio L’Aquila, Daniele Stratta, who on that occasion had declared: «We will not be the ones who complain, as happened in other places affected by construction sites. At the same time, however, we categorically ask that Piazza Chiarino be fully usable again by May 15th at the latest and also to partially reopen those sections which are gradually being completed”, in the hope that it could “reopen as early as mid-April”. Piazza Chiarino should instead reopen in concentric circles in the near future, even if the construction site will remain in its central portion until June 30th. The traders in the area will therefore have to wait even longer before being able to see the normal comings and goings of customers, who will thus continue to flock between Piazza Regina Margherita and Santa Maria Paganica in this first taste of summer now upon us.
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