A pavement on which teachers, children, elderly people, tourists of all ages have stumbled, fallen, and taken disastrous sprains: but, obviously, above all we must say residents and citizens who for decades have been waiting for this square to be made worthy of this name.
It seems almost mysterious why, despite not only articles in various local newspapers but also following private requests to the administration, apart from a thinning of bushes that at certain times make the square resemble a wildlife reserve of pigeons, snakes and mice, nothing is being done.
Deputy Mayor Ferrante announced in an interview on local TV, during the ongoing work of leveling the dynamic beaches and fixing rusty railings on the seafront and near the cathedral, that the state of Piazza Gradenigo will be resolved by the summer.
The tourism issue is truly serious, and one wonders whether that port in Via Alvarez is actually equipped to provide a welcome worthy of a beautiful and important city like Trani.
A public bathroom that closes from 12:30 to 15:30 – more or less the same hours as the other two, one near the cathedral and the other in the municipal villa – is one of the conditions that forced school children to find alternative solutions for their lunch break, such as the park of the castle of Barletta or the CAF of Castel del Monte, when they would have preferred a sandwich in the enchantment of the Port or among the flowerbeds of the Villa.
A welcome that is lacking in many places, including the station, where two cafes act as information services and bathroom availability, one in the square, the other a few dozen meters away, on Via Cavour, which about a month ago a journalist praised as a symbol of welcome in Trani together with San Nicola Pellegrino.
We have emphasized how Francesco Pansitta, the owner of that bar, has done his best to act as an infopoint by photocopying the city maps at his own expense and providing information and hospitality. But here the problem that is being witnessed is Piazza Gradenigo. Starting from the last week of August throughout September, October, even November, the buses will start to appear in large numbers again.
Will it be time to finally take action to be more ready? Or is the story that Trani is not a city for mass tourism, which must be defended to avoid ending up like Venice or Florence, crowded with coaches and “herds” of cruise passengers landed in Bari, but of a more refined tourism, just an excuse to justify too many inadequacies? Let’s trust the recent statements of the deputy mayor and await the start of the works, which certainly will not be easy to prove long-lasting and efficient.
