The pedestrianization plan for Piazza Federico di Svevia and the areas surrounding the Ursino Castle launched on Sunday 16 June in Catania was launched by the municipal council led by the mayor Enrico Trantino. As announced, the vehicle ban begins with the simultaneous availability of approximately 400 parking spaces in the surrounding areas (via Zurria, piazza Borsellino, via Plebiscito, piazza Vaccarini and the area made available by the Port Authority with 190 additional spaces). Furthermore, the Amts will guarantee a shuttle bus in the evening hours to connect the R1 car park in via Plebiscito and the neighboring Piazza Vaccarini (79 stalls) with Piazza Federico di Svevia. To make it easier to use the vast pedestrian area, two zones have been established: one with a 24-hour ban on cars and another with traffic closures limited to the evening and night hours on weekdays, without hourly limits on pedestrian traffic. only on holidays and Sundays. From Sunday 16 June the pre-exercise of video checks will begin, with the actual imposition of sanctions thirty days later: in this first phase there will be a tight control by the local police which will prevent the violation of pedestrian areas, if necessary with the imposition of contravention reports.
«We have discussed at length with residents and commercial operators together with the deputy mayor Paolo La Greca who I thank – said Trantino – collecting their suggestions where they allowed us to improve the proposal. Our project to transform Catania from a tourist city to a cultural city requires us to adapt the vision of the territory in terms of attractiveness. Only the support of tourism that is more sensitive to our extraordinary beauties can generate an improvement in our economy, pushing us into a condition of greater competitiveness. And to do this we must learn from the experiences of those many realities that have transformed cities into places to live and enjoy without the invasion of cars.” To mark the start of the historic pedestrianization of Piazza Federico di Svevia, on Sunday evening in the square of Castello Ursino, there will be a concert featuring the contribution of artists from Catania: I Lautari, Mario Venuti, Rita Botto, Eleonora Bordonaro, the orchestra of ‘Angelo Musco Institute directed by Daniele Zappalà with Gino Astorina.
