Appeal for the renewal of piazza Verdi, La Spezia AN OPEN LETTER I have been President of the jury responsible for overseeing—in an open competition—the best plan for the renovation of Piazza Verdi, La Spezia. It is my belief that this has been a clean contest from the very beginning. From the beginning it has been an intelligent, valid, and honest competition. The winning design brings relief to a piazza victimized by traffic and total decay. The first prize went to a design of rare aesthetic quality and urban sensitivity. The winning design promises to be a source of honor and pride for La Spezia. Instead, no. I now see that all our work is up for debate. The Superintendent retracts his own, earlier approval; the Minister improperly interferes with a process already scrupulously conducted; Mr. Vittorio Sgarbi makes vague, erroneous and hysterical pronouncements on a theme of which he knows nothing. Small groups of citizens belatedly rouse themselves to overturn in one moment four years of meticulous, thoughtful work. Compliments to everyone. But what sadness. Or better, what bleakness. Alessandro Mendini Architetto THE FACTS - July 2009: The Town Council of La Spezia, within the European financing POR-FESR 20082013, in collaboration with the P.A.A.L.M.A. Prize (Artist-Architect Award La Marrana Environmental Art) announces a " urban design competition, to be developed in two stages, for the architectural and artistic requalification of Giuseppe Verdi Plaza, La Spezia." Founding theme of the project is the integration of the visions of architect and artist. - February 2010: among the 89 projects participants, the winner is that of Daniel Buren and of the architects Giannantonio Vannetti (group leader), Christian Baglioni, Elena Ciappi, Claudio Dini, Franca Cecilia Franchi. Rationale and judjment of the jury (President of the Committee, architect Alessandro Mendini): "The project is built on a really strong integration between the work of the artist and that of the architect. This integration among the two creative methods -the fundamental presupposition of this contest- succeeded very well. The proposed spatial system, underlined by the artistic intervention, expresses an attention to all the urban appeals and to the various geometries that join the two parts of the city. The urban axes are studied and resolved with close attention. The stereometric design, of classical character, is well integrated in the architectural history of the plaza and it also proposes a microclimate of the green and of the art that turns the site into a pleasant garden of signs and volumes. Also the proposals of polifunctionality are valid and depht, and open to free interpretations from the citizens. The project, besides, allows a division in phases of work, correspondent to the necessity of progressive transformation of the traffic and to possible simplifications and different executive solutions, without modifying its general conception. Particular merits of the project are the technical and technological solutions, particularly the illuminating engeneering, that guarantees a new relationship between the electric and the technique performance."
- 2012: the plaza is not subject to legal bounds but the local Government equally requires the Superintendent’ opinion. The Superintendent gives its official authorization to the realization of the project (prot. 33062 - 11/06/2012); The new landscaping requires the cutting of 10 pines and the creation of an orange grove with 75 orange trees, saving and taking care of those existing; altogether realizing the planting of 40 new trees and 480 meters in new bloom hedges. In the historical report attached to the competition notice and in the letter of the Superintendent (prot. 10745 of the 04/15/2013) the 10 pines that form the traffic divider in the center of the plaza are declared "elements of alteration of the native architectural design which cannot be recognized in itself as having some artistic historical value" and "fictitious divider, in which the growth of the maritime pines has entirely obstructed the vision of the plaza, as well as the perception of the principal entrance of the Arsenal...� -
2013: The Municipality calls for tenders and awards the contracts
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06/10/2013: a public character, known for his oral and media intemperance, with offensive terms - and ignorant of the project – foments disorder in the piazza among small groups of politically motivated protesters.
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06/15/2013: The Minister of Culture, Massimo Bray, with a tweet, asks for a suspension of the work so that 10 pine trees can be declared as having cultural value. (N.B. the Superintendent had already given his full written permission to the cutting of the trees on 11/06/2012);
- 06/17/2013: exactly as stipulated by the contract, work begins at 6.00 a.m. At 8.53 a.m. the Mayor is reached from a fax written by the Superintendent asking him for the application of a cultural interest verification of the 10 pines. Suspension of all work. - 06/19/2013: Minister Massimo Bray summons the Mayor of La Spezia to Rome and verbally asks a shared solution that contemplates the maintenance of the pines, even if incompatible with the project. The project in fact reopened the axial view of the plaza and created at its center - where the 10 pines are found - an open amphitheater with symbolic (the absence of a theater there demolished) and polyfunctional value. As of July 8, 2013, the suspended work continues to cost citizens of the comune of La Spezia Euro 2.000 per day. [here you may calculate the total sum lost since the work first stopped.] Additionally, the suspension of work risks the loss of European financing set to expire on 31/12/14. If the work is suspended, the total cost of jobs lost in Piazza Verdi will be 2.800.000
SAFETY BELT We therefore invite an international convergence of thought in support of the project in Piazza Verdi: · We resist all casual political interference in legitimate democratic processes. · We oppose irresponsible media manipulation of public fear of civic innovation. · We endorse the city's effort to become better-known internationally through distinctive urban design. · We emphatically challenge the declining quality of our cultural debate. · With our voice, we are committed to elevating the level of cultural debate through orderly, democratic processes, and eloquence. · We oppose all false and ignorant representations of democratic practices and cultural values. · We defend all works and expressions that respect these practices and values.