Pompeii and the Eav project: the 'charm' of burial of at least 20 meters

Pompeii. This article is primarily intended for those calling for the complete burial of the EAV former Circumvesuviana railway line in Pompeii, knowing that—without adequate and reliable funding—the issue risks being postponed by at least twenty years. Burying the line is certainly a fascinating objective, but digging a trench is far less fascinating, and should be avoided like the plague. Meanwhile, a question that might arise is this: to what depth do we imagine burying the railway line? At the level of the Roman paleosol of 79 AD, it would be a disaster waiting to happen, given the foreseeable enormous archaeological finds. Therefore, it would be necessary to go below the Roman level. This would involve drilling between ten and twenty meters below modern ground level. That is, below the underpasses and below the two-level underground parking lot. This hypothesis we are launching could allow us to imagine the EAV project being implemented today with the appropriate modifications agreed upon between EAV itself and the municipal administration, also addressing the most reasonable requests from citizens.

For the tunnel beneath the Roman paleosoil, it will be a matter of mobilizing UNESCO and the international community, given the state of finances of our beautiful country, almost on its knees. Does Pompeii belong to the World? Well, it deserves a similar solution! The EAV line on the surface could be transformed into a pedestrian and cycle path between the excavations and the city center, remaining available for targeted and scheduled archaeological excavation sections, to be entrusted to the most prestigious universities in the world. But these are dreams destined to remain in the drawer. The harsh reality is that of today. Protests and proposals without strategic scope. But we ask one question: Have the members of the "No Underpasses" Committee considered the issue of the timing of the burial? And - let's be clear - we are not referring to all the citizens who make up the "No Underpasses" Committee but to those among them who spread fake news, like that of the three thousand members of the No Underpasses Committee. To those who still talk about the wall on Via Nolana, in place of the level crossing. To those who push for everything and now without compromise. They, like the illiterate, are returning protesters: behind the times of reality that runs faster than them. And it runs without respite and without escape, for those incapable of tactical intelligence and strategic mediation. A fair mediation, for example, seemed to us the willingness of EAV to maintain the level crossing of via Nolana – where it is truly necessary – and to eliminate from the project a long underpass of about sixty meters, frankly useless and unrealistic.

We also relaunch the hypothesis that the underpasses be replaced in the project by airy and transparent overpasses mechanically assisted by lifting platforms also suitable for citizens with motor problems. These seem to us to be results that can be achieved with the ongoing mobilization, despite everything. That is, despite the fact that the Municipality of Pompeii finds itself today managing the hot potato of the EAV Project, without having done anything to have it or to lose it. Except to passively accept the rejects of the solutions adopted in other municipal territories. But this tendency to ignore the priorities of Pompeii - used by certain Politics however as a showcase for EU funds - has been going on for some years now. In short, it is not a particular demerit of this Administration in office, which has much else to be forgiven for. But it shares with other previous administrations the vocation to the rearguard. In the last two decades in Pompeii the opportunities for the total burial of the Circumvesuviana line and then that of the trench - in truth the most nefarious of the hypotheses - which has re-emerged confusedly in recent days have been lost. Further back in the years the Circumarcheologica was lost and shortly after bad politics gambled away the vehicle overpass as a viaduct, foreseen in the Master Plan in place of today's Hotel Resort. 

Meanwhile, the City Center of Pompeii is dying of traffic, along with Via Nolana. And today there is also the serious risk of losing the EAV project that plans to pass under the tracks with driveways. But there is an aggravating factor: the only problem that is being discussed seems to be that of pedestrian underpasses, which could simply be replaced by assisted pedestrian overpasses. This would end the ongoing endless debate for the interests - albeit legitimate - of two or three hundred people. But who defends the remaining twenty-five thousand or so inhabitants? In the meantime, every decision is postponed. Even that of the Conference of Services. Waiting for what? And the Amitrano Administration, incapable of giving answers, bows before a few irresponsible people, wounded by internal political conflicts. In this climate of confused debate between protests and proposals, Tuesday 11 June last represented an opportunity for particular mobilization. It was known that some Committees, those Against the EAV Project and the one in favor of Casa Borrelli – involved even if only modestly by the EAV project – would march to the Town Hall for a sit-in protest. We, in truth, have been among those who have never shared the tendency to merge between the NO Sottopassi Committees. Even less so that of the Save Casa Borrelli Committee with the NO Sottopassi Committee. The united No Sottopassi Committee is the bearer of vague, different and conflicting requests. The Casa Borrelli Committee for the elderly poor is made up of about fifty members whose only objective is its protection. We believe the requests are profoundly different and we see too much distance between the objectives of the various Committees. We are among those who defend the survival of Casa Borrelli and, indeed, we propose its strengthening with the activation of an ASL First Aid Point, which Pompeii lacks. It would be a way to guarantee the survival of the House and its relaunch in the living social fabric of the city. On Tuesday 11th June, however, the strategic error occurred, which could have also encouraged those who are pushing forward the plan to cancel Casa Borrelli. The announced mobilization ended in a solemn fiasco. Very few citizens participated in the march and the Sit-in. Only a few dozen, if we take into account the workers, who are fighting for their working future. Our full solidarity cannot go to them, but we recognize that the problems to be faced are complex. In short, the problems generated by the EAV Project tend to overlap and become more complicated in a chain increasingly entangled between opposing interests, technical, political and social.

Federico LIFederico