On a normal summer morning in Orvieto, while tourists and Orvietans are sitting for breakfast at the tables of the restaurants or walking on the Corso or via Duomo, trucks, pickup trucks, vans, cars, mopeds and three-wheelers pass almost incessantly on the road. Waste collection workers also pass by with their vehicles which, especially in summer, do not give off a very inviting smell. In the meantime, the tourists, first amused and then annoyed, flatten themselves against the walls and move their chairs, watching the city wake up. But he wakes up quite late because when all this happens it’s after 9 in the morning.
A few days ago the limit was reached. In the middle of the restricted traffic zone, a queue of waiting vans is created. One of them had parked himself beautifully without worrying about space for transit so as to make some deliveries. The “colleagues” were quite annoyed and with the engine strictly running, many of them are refrigerated trucks, they waited for the driver to finally return to move the vehicle and continue the tour. What if an emergency vehicle had to pass instead? He would have had to wait for the driver to return, wasting precious seconds.
It is first and foremost a question of civic education. The adage “we have to work” cannot apply, others also have the right to be in peace, to walk freely without risking an accidental blow. Then there are the rules. The permit that the vehicles have gives the possibility of access and transit, not parking and above all not indiscriminate parking in every corner and always respecting the signs and the highway code. In short, no to vehicles going against traffic, no to private scooters, still no to scooters in the pedestrian area of the alley that connects the Corso to Piazza del Popolo or in front of the cinema.
Now the electoral campaign is over and the mayor Tardani has announced that a pedestrian zone will be created in the area that goes from the Theater to Piazza della Repubblica and from the Duomo to the Torre del Moro. That’s right, we at Orvietolife have supported him since unsuspecting times, even since the time of the Germani junta. The only real pedestrian area the city needs goes from the Duomo, including the square, to the Torre del Moro and from the theater to Piazza della Repubblica, leaving only the part of Via Loggia dei Mercanti and Via della Cava for transit. Few permits, only those strictly necessary and local police officers on foot inside the pedestrian area, it is possible; advance waste collection such as the delivery of perishable goods. The only exceptions are emergency vehicles on duty, vans for medicines if necessary and then everyone on foot. It would be a nice signal from the mayor and an excellent start to the summer tourist season. Let’s avoid it being said, Orvieto’s problem? It’s the traffic!
