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After 30 years, the redevelopment of Torrino Santa Rosa finally arrives, with the creation of the new socialization center for the elderly and the redevelopment of the surrounding area. Program agreement between the Tuscany Region and the Municipality of Florence for the granting of the extraordinary regional contribution of 600 thousand euros for the redevelopment of the Torrino and the approval of the executive project of over 1.1 million euros for the construction of the senior center. Yesterday the double resolution was approved in the last session by the Palazzo Vecchio council on the proposal of the councilor for public works Titta Meucci.
The new project
The project of the new building was defined towards the Arno in compliance with the hydraulic no-build zone established within 10 meters of the nineteenth-century wall; and towards the Torrino by a further four-metre buffer zone of the medieval walls agreed with the Superintendence to improve the visibility of the historical artefacts both from the Lungarno Santa Rosa and from the Lungarno Vespucci on the opposite bank of the Arno.
To achieve it, some preparatory works will be necessary, starting from the demolition of the illegal structures in the courtyard (former basement changing rooms) and adjacent to the Torrino to the east (verandas) and west (current multipurpose room), in compliance with the injunctions affecting the building adjacent to the Torrino; up to the removal of the vegetation adjacent to the historic structures and the cleaning of the areas downstream of the Torrino.
The project involves the construction of two interpenetrating buildings: the main body with a rectangular plan, characterized by great transparency, will host the multipurpose room from which the block intended for services will emerge (kitchen, washing, warehouse/pantry, toilets for the public and spaces for staff). The connecting element between the new building and Torrino will be made up of a lightweight structure completely glazed on the sides facing the street and the Arno, acting as a filter between the two environments.
The green area overlooking the river will be affected by the arrangement of vegetation and land, with the introduction of a new lateral access to the internal garden. An integral part of the project, explains Palazzo Vecchio, consists of the reorganization of the road system in the area around the Torrino, through the creation of a new sidewalk to distance the roadway from the body of the Torrino and create a new pedestrian crossing that will connect the entrance to the new structure at the park of the walls of Verzaia, increasing the safety of pedestrian paths. The sidewalk on the opposite side of the Torrino Santa Rosa will also be modified and widened.
The comment
“I am extremely satisfied to close the mandate by completing an intervention that citizens have been waiting for for 30 years – said councilor Meucci -. A complex intervention from many points of view, which will now allow not only to make available a more suitable structure for social activity from a building and services perspective; but also to redevelop and regularize the surrounding area, enhance the Torrino complex from a historical-architectural point of view and regularize the vehicular and pedestrian roads”.
