“Faced with a complex international situation and two wars on the chessboard that surrounds us, Arezzo is responding well,” the annual budget of the mayor of Arezzo makes this assumption Alessandro Ghinelli. Together with the councilors of his municipal council, the mayor traced the stages of this year 2023, from the satisfaction that clearly emerges from the data about the Christmas City to the bitterness about the issue of Medio Etruria, touching on the state of the city's construction sites , to social policies aimed at the part of the population that is better fed year after year and struggles with poverty.
The springboard culture
One of the main focuses of the Ghinelli Council's work concerns the culture and activities of the foundations.
“Arezzo – claims the mayor – has also confirmed itself as a protagonist in 2023.” Through the activity of the Guido d'Arezzo Foundation, there were numerous appointments, initiatives and events throughout the year, from Sean Shanahan, to the very rich program of the summer in the fortress, to the new editions of the youth music festival and the Aretina concert season under the direction of Maestro Giovanni Andrea Zanon”. The celebrations for the 450th anniversary of the death of Giorgio Vasari, which will take place in 2024. A tandem with Florence, initially with the mayor Nardella aspired and then realized with the Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze.
Security: New agents arrive
For a city ready to welcome visitors and always willing to stay up late in the summer, the need for security has become even more pressing.
“The work of the city police was effective despite the lack of personnel. For this reason, an additional 13 officers will be recruited in 2024,” Ghinelli announced. “The increase in staff also makes it possible to activate a fourth shift on the weekends.” In the summer months, work is carried out in the middle of the night. The service will therefore be active 24 hours a day on these days.”
Schools and educational projects
Then the chapter about child care. 2023 was defined as “the year of big decisions”, which led to the consolidation of important results: “Arezzo is now among the top ten cities in Italy where girls and boys live better. The result affects the “zero six” age group. ' and was also achieved thanks to experiences such as the exchange of good practices with the Municipality of Reggio Emilia and the reduction of waiting lists for municipal kindergartens.
As for the choice of system, the new concession for school meals was established in mid-2023, whose service and concession contract is worth over 12 million euros, in a sector where Arezzo is today on the podium of Tuscan realities. An investment of over 7 million euros has been allocated to renew the management of educational services and co-planning and co-programming have been activated to create collaborative pathways that provide constantly updated responses to the growing needs of families.
Health care and critical issues
In the health sector, the Council operated on two different levels: “one municipal and the other in continuous comparison with the Tuscany region”. Three objectives were pursued: The first was to support public assistance in dealing with the region, which had not provided answers for some time. Secondly, it was about continuing the project to ensure comprehensive social health services: the goal of creating the first master plan for social health services at the municipal level was achieved. The third edition took shape with the fourth edition of the General States of Arezzo Healthcare, which now depends on the Risk Forum, where the foundations of the “Municipal Health Pact” were laid and a clear message was sent to the Tuscany Region about the resources for San Donato: The 150 million euros, in addition to the 70 million of the Pnrr, is a non-negotiable demand from the city of Arezzo that the region must address.
Social policy
In the socio-political area, many important projects have been initiated to deal with emergency situations. “The numbers speak for themselves: In 2023, 9,244 people will be admitted and cared for, including over 4,000 with multiple critical problems. That’s 10 percent of Arezzo’s population, an important number,” commented Ghinelli. In particular, 80 families with minors took advantage of the offer of educational home care; 78 are the short investigations ordered by the public prosecutor.
A balanced annual budget also for the Arezzo Community Foundation, which carried out its first year of activity at full capacity in 2023. Currently 50 members have joined and 5 projects have been implemented.
Equal opportunities and animal welfare
2023 was a very challenging year for the delegations on equal opportunities, integration and immigration, with numerous activities carried out mainly in three areas: education/training projects, mainly aimed at schools, with the aim of reaching young people, promoting Calls for tenders, etc. Projects open to the third sector and the dissemination of inspirational messages through cultural and artistic events.
Regarding personnel, the department is committed to maintaining “union peace”, while the personnel recruitment policy was aimed at planning the recruitment of specialists necessary for maintaining the sustainability level of some services in serious difficulties, as well as ensuring and increasing the level of Efficiency and effectiveness of the organization's activities. In particular, in 2023, in implementation of the decisions approving the employment plans, a total of 30 recruitments were made, of which 21 were permanent and 9 were temporary.
Finally, 2023 has benefited from restructuring efforts across the cat colony sector as part of its commitment to animal welfare. In particular, a complete revision of the list of colonies was carried out and a new protocol was applied for registration, capture, sterilization, hospitalization and re-entry into the cat colony. The results exceeded all expectations: in 2023, all sterilization appointments granted by the local health authority were met. A lot of work also required the preparation of the tender for the allocation of the municipal kennel for the next five years, which was completed in the first months of the year: an operation that was appreciated by the President of the Enpa Nazionale for the quality of the tender, “which is a clear “Sends a signal of the administration's interest in animal protection.”
maintenance
The list of activities of the Maintenance, Public Works and Mobility Department is very long. School buildings were the focus of interventions in the maintenance of municipal buildings. Among the most significant interventions are the removal of asbestos and the replacement of the flooring in the Orciolaia kindergarten, the new roofs of the San Giuliano primary schools, the Severi primary school, the Vasari primary school and the Leonardo Bruni primary school, painting, local disinfection, replacement of fittings, sanitary systems in school buildings and public buildings. New public lighting systems with video surveillance were also created for the area outside the San Lorentino building and for the green area next to the Vingone stream in Via Vittorio Veneto.
With regard to energy efficiency, renovation measures were carried out on the thermal power plants of all municipal buildings, schools and offices with a total value of 3 million euros.
Numerous interventions were made in the design of green spaces through the planting of new trees, the pruning of around 2,500 plants, the redesign of school grounds in 15 complexes and the replacement of street furniture in 20 parks and green spaces; These interventions include the complete demolition of existing play equipment, the redesign of spaces and the creation of new play areas that are largely accessible to people with different motor skills. Among the most important are the green areas of Rigutino, Pratantico, Ruscello, Tortaia and the parks of San Leo and San Donato. Similar interventions were carried out in school buildings, including in the Fonterosa, Antria, Curina and Lippi area codes.
The ordinary and extraordinary maintenance of the roads, which concerned the unpaved roads, was supported by an important financing program: among the most important are Viale Giotto, Via de' Gasperi, Via Pasqui, Via Vittorio Veneto, Viale Don Minzoni, Via Chiari and Via XXV Aprile and Viale Michelangelo.
Public works
In terms of public works, the area of action this year was the signing of contracts and the implementation of the interventions financed by the Pnrr. Among the most important, whose works are currently underway, include the extraordinary maintenance of the school grounds and Building L – former Cadorna barracks, the new kindergarten in Colombo, the urban rehabilitation of the balloon play areas – Lot 1 and Via Fra' Guittone with the restoration of the walls . Subsequently, work was completed to improve the efficiency of the Petrarch Theater's air conditioning system. In addition, contracts were signed for the urban redevelopment of the San Clemente sports area, Piazza Giotto and Piazza Saione and the surrounding areas. The implementation projects for the new Cesalpino school as well as for the post office and housing in the former Piave barracks building were approved.
Extra Pnrr are the works for the construction of the new roundabout in Via dei Carabinieri, the restoration works on the Bastion of Poggio del Sole, which concern both the wall cladding and the design of the green area of Via Fra' Guittone, as well as the construction works shortly before Completion of the new park for sports activities and games for the little ones in the green area of Viale Don Minzoni. Work has been commissioned for the construction of the connecting arm between the Tauscher car park and Via Buonconte da Montefeltro and for the construction of the road connection between Viale Mecenate and Via Andrea della Robbia with the Santa Maria delle Grazie roundabout. The construction work for the new sampling point in part of the street-facing rooms of the multi-storey Baldaccio building has been completed, the implementation project has been acquired and the tender process for the urban renovation of the gardens on Viale Michelangelo “Porcinai” has been completed. will be opened.
In the area of mobility, four new cycle path construction projects were started and completed, and another six are being implemented or are about to be built. In addition, footbus projects were started at seven primary schools to promote the use of alternative means of transport to cars to get to school. The micromobility sharing service of electric scooters was also successfully activated and the first two electric minibuses, which will be in use in the old town from January next year, were presented.
Antiques fair
The improvement notice for the owners of the antiques fair was published in February 2023 and was followed in March by the announcement of the allocation of free space with the final allocation of 52 new spaces in May, meaning the fair has 229 exhibitors again. To crown this work, on the occasion of the long weekend of June 2nd, the extraordinary day of the Antiques Fair was organized and managed and the preparatory work for the computerization and management of the ticking operations in the markets was carried out via APP: this acquisition allows the release of part of the urban Police personnel responsible for this operation, which was previously carried out in paper form.
Town planning
In 2023, the activity of the Urban Planning Department was focused on the elaboration of some important strategic urban planning projects for the city: the implementation plan for the redevelopment of Piazza Cadorna, based on the results of the participatory process financed by the Region, which concluded the first months of the year, in Decided by the local council in November and presented to the press. The new public area is designed as a center of attraction that fulfills new functions in the wider context, with the aim of increasing the value of the open space, be it a square, a garden or a path, intended to serve a specific specific function; the design, in coordination with the Ferrovie dello Stato group, of the former railway site identified as a third location in which the location of the public library is planned; the implementation plan for the rehabilitation of the Pionta area, taking into account the results of a participatory process carried out by the University and in coordination with the local health authority, the province and the University itself; a feasibility project for the northern closure of the ring, seeking possible coherence with the Territorial Address Plan/Landscape Plan in relation to a route that cuts through significant areas from a landscape perspective.
The case of the E 78
“The City Council expressed its opinion on the project of important strategic infrastructure for our area E78 Grosseto – Fano section 4 node Arezzo (San Zeno) – Selci Lama (E45), welcoming the main axis of the E78 and rejecting the project of the two connections,” explained the Mayor. The administration, together with the citizens and the relevant committees, has developed a series of observations on the problems of infrastructure and its relationship with the territory. These observations have been summarized in a summary document adopted unanimously by the City Council and sent to the by the Extraordinary Commissioner to the Decision Service Conference convened for the E78. The Council also considered some resolutions related to the location of public works and the imposition of the predetermined expropriation restriction, such as the definitive bridge and the alternative road system to the historic “Buriano” Bridge (Province of Arezzo) as well as the hydraulic reorganization interventions (Reclamation Consortium) on site. San Marco and Via Salvadori with the aim of strengthening the resilience of our territory, creation of two cycle paths with Pnrr means, one of which connects the locality of Ceciliano and the Setteponti roundabout and the other the shopping center in the locality of Le Cacciarelle and Via Bologna connects with the goal of creating an ever more efficient network for gentle mobility. Finally, a variant to maintain the operational plan in the NTAs was adopted (given the experience gained in the first year of implementation) in order to improve some aspects of the rules.
Housing policy
As part of the housing policy, in May 2023 the Office published the final ranking of the tender for the allocation of social housing published in September 2022. 231 families will be included in the new rankings. The Office arranged 32 assignments of ERP housing on a regular basis and 3 assignments of approved housing. In addition, arrears were monitored and seven eviction orders were issued, which made it possible to recover as much accommodation as possible to meet the needs of new families who were sensibly placed in the rankings.
Environmental guidelines
In 2023, the first solidarity energy community was created in the region. The administration initially agreed to a memorandum of understanding with Aisa Impianti, Management Environmental and the Arezzo Community Foundation. Subsequently, the City Council approved the statutes and the feasibility study, which envisages the provision of 2 MW of electrical energy to the municipality by Aisa Impianti. Among the numerous activities, the air quality monitoring network has also been expanded with the acquisition of another three control units, adding to the five previous ones and the two of Arpat, for a total of 11 in the region, a number that few Italian cities can boast. As part of the territory's decarbonization strategy in 2023, the administration, in teams with key local industrial companies, participated in two European tenders on the theme of “Small Hydrogen Valleys”; Even without assigning contributions, they still provided important feedback confirming the validity of the proposed project: participation in future tenders is expected in 2024 to implement and improve the San Zeno Hydrogen Valley project.
Sports and youth policy
The work of the sports and youth policy department is also particularly intensive. As for the first delegation, the process of rehabilitating municipal sports facilities continued in 2023 through public notices to sports facilities interested in managing the facilities free of charge after redevelopment. During the year, contracts were signed for the rugby field (investment of 125,000 euros and 25 years of management), the Santa Firmina football field (investment of 99,000 euros and 20 years of management) and the Sant'Andrea a Pigli (19,000 euros of investment and 15 years). management), the Lorentini football field (192,000 euros investment and 25 years of management) and the sports climbing facility (30,000 euros investment and 20 years of management). Overall, since the municipal administration was founded, renovation projects for municipal sports facilities have been approved, which require investments of more than 2 million euros from successful sports organizations. In the second half of the year, another five tenders concerned the football pitches of Quarata and Vitiano, the bowling green of San Leo and the multi-purpose facility of Pratantico. For these facilities, the results will be announced no later than the first half of 2024, the year in which we will proceed with the publication of further renovation notices for the remaining part of the sports facilities that require them, see under the time through the enlightenment.
In the third year, the “Sports Vouchers” measure was confirmed as the main sports promotion policy of the municipal administration, an aid to families with an ISEE of less than 20,000 euros to provide vouchers that are affiliated in the circle of ASD, SSD, associations, etc. of the municipality and offer sports courses at.