The shed former Montecatinion the docks of Sant’Apollinare a Toastsdeclared unusable as there is a risk of collapse. Skip, therefore, the stage of Cinzella Festival scheduled for next August, despite the offer of the Municipality of Brindisi which had made the “Fanuzzi” stadium available as an alternative.
The discovery
It was done a few days ago, during an inspection to check the conditions of a perimeter wall which had already caused some problems and had been shored up. Over time, however, some landslides had occurred. Hence the need for control. During which, however, a much more worrying problem emerged: some wooden roof supportsIndeed, they were found to be in inadequate conditions as they were eroded by atmospheric agents and, above all, from pigeon guano. A situation then put in black and white also in a warning to allow the shed for any use due to the fact that dangerous collapses were found within the structure. The Port System Authority, among other things, has entrusted the carrying out of an appraisal to a technical firm from Brindisi. Until this arrives and, above all, until the shed is made safe, it cannot be used for any purpose.
Mayor
«The possibility of an intervention by a company specialized in the treatment and regeneration of wooden materials, in order to make the warehouse regain usability again, is being verified – explains the mayor Giuseppe Marchionna. Yesterday morning (Wednesday for those reading, ed.) I spoke with the engineer Di Leverano (manager of the Technical Office of the Southern Adriatic Sea Port System Authority, ed.) who told me that between Monday and Tuesday there could already be able to quantify the damage and establish how long it will take to fix it. The problem is that on June 18th, at the beginning of next week, the organizers of Cinzella have scheduled the press conference and the launch of ticketing. This means that certain times are needed by that date. Which, at present, cannot be guaranteed. The problem is that it was discovered too late: the thing got to us between our heads and our necks. All it took was for someone to notice a month before and the problem would not have arisen. And it’s a real shame, because we were honored to host Cinzella.” But the first event to skip will be the 12th edition of the Hip Hop Night of the Street School of Brindisi, scheduled for June 22nd in the former Montecatini warehouse and which, instead, will have to find an alternative location. Even if, in theory, there could be time to intervene on the structure and make it usable again by mid-August, the Cinzella Festival will also be cancelled, which this year, for its eighth edition, should have taken place in Brindisi, in the warehouse ex Montecatini, from 15 to 17 August.
The missed opportunity
A real shame, considering that for that very occasion several big names in international music, from electronic to rock, would stop in the city. The first names to be announcedlast March, had been those of the Gene Simmons Band and Wolfmother, two realities of international standing. As for the Gene Simmons Band, it is, as can be seen from the name, a project born around the bassist and frontman of Kiss. On the same evening, the second, the passing of the baton was expected with a band that arrived about 25 years later and is among the most famous of the “stoner” genre (a psychedelic rock with heavy sounds and slow rhythms), i.e. the Wolfmother. In the following days, then, the names of the other scheduled artists emerged, including the Sleaford Mods, a British post-punk group among the most representative in the world “underground” scene, whose presence in Brindisi would have been their only date in the Southern Italy. This is a duo with a strong “social” connotation, made up of Jason Williamson, singer, and Andrew Fearn, instrumentalist. Together with them, on the final evening, Big Special should also have performed, among the most significant of the British punk scene, composed of the two musicians, Joe Hicklin and Callum Moloney. In the first evening, however, there would have been space for electronic music with the Danish Trentemoller, who combines this genre with post-rock, and Vitalic, a well-known exponent of the French scene.
The festival
Due to the unavailability of the former Montecatini warehouse it will no longer be held in Brindisi. The location is not yet certain but it is likely that the organizers could choose Taranto. “I didn’t speak directly with the organizers – reports the mayor – but with an intermediary, remembering that the stadium could have been used, which can accommodate 7,500 people in the stands and another 1,500 on the pitch”. The impression, however, is that the organizers intend to fall back on Taranto. And in the meantime, he concludes, «we will take advantage of making him safe before taking him. We are trying to reason with the System Authority to verify the possibility of equipping the structure with those transparent mobile panels that have been talked about for a long time and which are necessary to close the structure”.
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