They are a stone’s throw from the centre’s lounge, overlook the only green lung in the city center and enjoy the nearby Campo del Palio car park. Strategically perfect location, on paper, to attract tourists and customers looking for a suggestive corner in which to take a break with friends but in reality it is a corner of the city seen with suspicion and frequented only by the usual ones.
They are the kiosks in the public gardens in Viale alla Vittoria, increasingly under the strict control of the police and increasingly avoided by those who don’t want to end up in unpleasant situations.
The reasons why that place, theoretically so beautiful and suitable for everyone, repels instead of attracting are well known to the police who have a long list of interventions in those very kiosks.
There are critical issues from a health and hygiene point of view (so much so that just ten days ago one of them was closed due to non-compliance with the most basic rules laid down for food and drink administration establishments); there are critical issues from the point of view of the maintenance of the kiosks and their direct appurtenances (very old structures with worn frames and glass, worn floors and furnishings, disconnected outdoor platforms, a mix of tables and chairs, the backs facing the garden are reduced to landfills); there are critical issues from the point of view of attendance (the Police and Carabinieri carry out continuous checks on the gatherings of people with problems with the law); there are critical issues on public land (many reports of tables and chairs placed in the pedestrian passage to transform it into a single large unauthorized terrace where passers-by with wheelchairs, strollers or dogs on a leash have to make their way with difficulty amidst the disdain of customers seated).
With spikes of episodes of drunkenness (even out back towards the public gardens) or fights and assaults. And, in general, a difficult coexistence with those who would like to fully enjoy that green area.
After the reopening of the kiosk closed for hygienic reasons, it was the turn of the nearby one to display a decree from the Police Commissioner of Asti which ordered the suspension of its activity until 9 June for administrative reasons, precisely following the collection and analysis of the many interventions and the people identified at the tables. And today another one was closed again due to poor hygiene standards and will not be able to reopen until it passes the cleaning “exam”.
The Police Commissioner: “We will not lower our guard”
«We have already notified another measure to suspend the activity in those kiosks – says the Police Commissioner of Asti Marina Di Donato who follows the specifics closely, motivating the many interventions on arguments, noise, criminals who meet at those tables – Our threshold of attention is very high, because there are many reports that we receive from citizens and equally extensive reports from our checks, also with other bodies such as the Local Health Authority and the Labor Inspectorate”.
The Commissioner recalls that trade associations have also been invited to draw the attention of merchants to their obligations and duties with regard to customer selection. «Meetings and instructions are planned for operators on what tools the law makes available to them so as not to find themselves in unpleasant situations such as those of complaints and suspensions of activity» concludes the Commissioner.
The architect: “With a long-term vision they could transform into an attraction for citizens and tourists”
The kiosk bars in public gardens were built decades ago on public land and have not undergone recent restyling by their managers and owners. And on this front, Mayor Rasero himself confirms that there are, at the moment, no specific projects to give a new design to that area.
In other European cities, for example, which have central green areas such as that of Viale alla Vittoria, the municipalities have razed the old buildings which are still temporary in nature to create new ones, all the same, with an appropriate style to the context which were then awarded through public tenders. In Asti so far there is no similar plan on the horizon, also due to the evident high costs of demolishing and rebuilding the kiosks.
«We would need a courageous urban improvement operation extended to all those who have at heart the redevelopment of that important and potentially valid piece of the city – comments the Asti architect Pippo Cornero – For example, a series of demolition of the bar kiosks with a project of reconstruction according to aesthetic dictates which would change the face of the public gardens and the entrusting of management to those who want to run the bar business there. But you need to find one or more entrepreneurs who are interested in an investment of this type. And it’s not that obvious.”
Architect Cornero points out that the kiosks still work under municipal concession and it is therefore the Municipality that has the upper hand in thinking about reorganizing that whole area to return it to free and peaceful usability for the whole city.
«It is unthinkable that a small group of citizens can “colonize” a piece of the city that belongs to everyone and that the administrators agree to lose control of it. But to do this you need a broad design vision that sets a well-defined final objective to be achieved without various influences and pressures that inevitably come along the way” concludes the architect.
