by Andrea Rossetti
Compared to a few months ago, there are a little fewer. But even today, every morning, there are many workers and technicians who, after parking in the square of the monumental cemetery of Bergamo and its surroundings, go to the enormous Chorus Life construction site, “wedged” between Via Bianzana and Via Serassi.
Their presence – a constant for those who live in the area – seems to have become the only certainty of a maxi urban redevelopment operation that began way back in 2017 and whose conclusion is instead hung with a big question mark.
No certainty
The confirmation comes from the fact that, after trying for a while to set deadlines for the work in progress, Chorus Life has now opted for a cautious silence. Just over a year ago, on the occasion of the inauguration of the year of Bergamo and Brescia as Italian Capital of Culture, there were rumors that the large 6,500 seat Arena could be inaugurated perhaps in December, then the plans changed further.
Now we hope – without officially saying so – at the beginning of next year. Meanwhile, appointments scheduled for next autumn are cancelled. She confirmed it in recent days Marco Fermi, director of the Bergamo Tennis Internationals, making it known that the 2024 edition – scheduled for November – of the popular tournament will not be held in the city, but in Rovereto. The hope is to return to Bergamo in 2025. But there is no certainty, exactly.
«Last year we made up for the closure of the sports hall in via Pitentino by playing at the Italcementi sports center and using the Alzano gym as a second court – explains Fermi -, but the ATP (the international association that manages the official tennis tournaments, ed) told us that such an organization did not meet standards. We were therefore forced to move differently and, given that at the moment we do not have any type of certainty about the city structures, we opted for a one-year transfer, so as not to miss the window in the calendar”.
Here we need to briefly explain, in a simple way, how the organization of the tennis calendar works: both for the ATP tournaments (i.e. the highest level ones) and for the Challengers (slightly lower level, to which Bergamo also belongs), c ‘It’s a fixed number. In order to organize new ones, therefore, it is necessary for someone to “renounce” and give up their right. If Bergamo gave up (…)
