The Municipality of Rocca di Mezzo has recently started the approval procedure for the environmental restoration of Piani di Pezza. The decision comes after a long process that began in July 2023 by Salviamo L’Orso and the Abruzzese Ornithological Station, which, having learnt of the start of work on the construction of a so-called ‘Cross-country Stadium’ in an area subject to multiple environmental and landscape constraints (Natura2000 sites, Sirente-Velino regional park, ZSC IT 7110206 etc.) had sent a formal warning to the municipality.
This was the start of a long process that, in July 2023, led to the suspension of the work and to a complaint, presented by the associations, to the Public Prosecutor’s Office of L’Aquila to ask the Magistracy to assess the possible existence of offences and, if necessary, to proceed with the precautionary seizure of the sites where the work was being carried out. After recognising the good reasons of the complainants, the construction site was seized and the Public Prosecutor’s Office indicted the managers of the company that had begun work without the necessary authorisations. The hearing is scheduled for 21 May.
Today, after almost two years, we are happy to note that common sense has prevailed and that the commitment of local associations, activism and civic sense have paid off. The Piani di Pezza, in fact, are everyone’s heritage, whose beauty would have been distorted by an unnecessary intervention that would have altered its charm forever and that so closely resembles others that still disfigure the mountain territory. However, we would like to stress how this story inevitably imposes some reflections. The first, on the decisive role that associations play as sentinels of the territory. The second, on the inability and superficiality with which many municipal administrations, with the excuse of promoting the territory and the economic-social development of communities, sell off its natural capital, jeopardising the possibility for future generations to freely enjoy it.