Sixty years of sea erased by a net: the Poggio Arena case explodes

In the post-oil city that has applied for the first time as Capital of the Sea, ranking thirteenth out of 54 participants in Italy, a case has erupted regarding the defense of access to one of the most beautiful public beaches in Gela.

A sit-in tomorrow morning in front of the city hall has been organized by the Poggio Arena Committee and the neighborhood committee of urban area 9 to defend public access to the beach with the dunes (which is protected by a naturalistic constraint) just as it has been for the past 60 years.

As is known, there is a war of paperwork between the residents of the area, the Municipality, and the Swiss company that purchased the land on via delle Acacie, which has fenced off closing access to the road used by many beachgoers for the past 60 years coming from all over.

The committee has filed an appeal to the TAR to request the cancellation of the provision signed by the general secretary approving the fencing that cancels the passage in the historic path of via delle Acacie.

It has also pointed out alleged irregularities in the matter of the demolition and reconstruction of the property by the Swiss company and then on the variation in progress from which the installation of the fence and the closure of the historic access to the sea from via delle Acacie arose.

The TAR, which will revisit the appeal in the hearing on next Tuesday, before reaching conclusions, has ordered a joint site inspection with the Municipality, the Committee, and the Swiss company along with their respective legal and technical representatives.

The site inspection was conducted on February 20. However, the problem does not seem to have been resolved after that inspection; rather, the organization of the sit-in and various posts on social media in defense of the sea seem to be going in the opposite direction.

In the report submitted after the site inspection, the municipal secretary Dr. Curaba highlights that there are no anomalies, that the Swiss company has in its prescriptions the protection of the dunes, which prevents the use of an internal road within its lot, but there is a 4-meter alternative path to the sea that is outside the lot.

The committee contests this hypothesis. The other path on via delle Mele has also been fenced off as private property after the intervention of the municipal police called by Sen. Lorefice as soon as a bulldozer arrived on site to clear the path.

The version provided by both the Swiss company and the Municipality in view of the hearing at the Tar does not convince the committee ready to continue the legal battle to defend "a denied right."