Florence, February 28, 2020 – Florence locks itself against drug dealing and degradation. An entire street in the historic center, via Dell’Ortone that connects Piazza Ghiberti to Borgo La Croceliterally closes its doors. At the two ends, in fact, they have been installed two gates that will remain barred overnight effectively armoring the entrance to the city handkerchief, except for residents and traders whose access will be guaranteed by a special remote control. The fence was installed by the technical services of the Municipality of Florence following the requests of the inhabitants, tired of having to open their windows wide on a free zone, chosen as a meeting place for stragglers and as a shop.
After numerous letters, also accompanied by petitions signed by hundreds of people, three years ago the Municipality of Florence brought the request in the center of the Cospe, the order and public safety committee, obtaining authorization to proceed with the intervention. “It is a commitment that we have made with citizens and that we have completed. Next week, while waiting for the workers to finish the job, we will agree on the opening and closing times with the residents and the traders and then we will communicate to the whole district how to use them. We took this measure, I repeat approved by Cospe, to give an answer to those who live and work and avoid improper use of the road »he underlines the councilor for decoration of the Municipality of Florence Alessia Bettini.
After the proposal of the prior of the Basilica of Santo Spirito to close the sacred place with an anti-bivouac gate, San Lorenzo who in recent years even hired sentries to defend the churchyard and Santa Maria del Fiore who had to pull an anti-sitting cordon to protect yourself from the siege of the worst of the mass tourism massacre, this time it’s a whole way. In fact, the order of the mayor was not enough to ban the sale of alcohol after 9 pm and therefore to curb the most unruly fringes of the nightlife. Nor did the enhancement of lighting discourage certain visitors from the area. Desperate times call for desperate measures. So yesterday morning some workers from the Municipality of Florence, at the request of residents and traders, raised a barrier. “There is no other solution – he says William Nocentini, owner together with the mother of the Bistrot Gilda, right on the corner of Piazza Ghiberti and via Dell’Ortone -. Several inhabitants were afraid, the road has been used over the years to peddle and take drugs. With the gate, at least at night, we will leave the unwanted entrances outside ». But Sant’Ambrogio is divided. On the one hand, those who clap their hands, on the other, those who believe that the ban on access is a defeat for the city. “You cannot think of solving a security problem that we have been reporting for years – underlines Simone Scavullo, spokesman of the Citizens Committee for Florence – closing a road. At this point many other routes should be closed. The problem lies in the controls. Here you need a greater presence of uniforms ».
© Reproduction reserved
–
–
