Salerno. Today in Salerno Piazza della Liberta' was inaugurated in the presence of the President of the Region, Vincenzo De Luca, and the Mayor, Vincenzo Napoli; great curiosity and anticipation on the part of hundreds of citizens who arrived in the “Crescent” area to visit the “square on the sea – said the governor – the largest and most beautiful in Italy and Europe.
A work like this is built in Italy every 500 years”. President De Luca told the story of the square, first relying on a video on what was previously in the area made, it was remembered, of degradation, night drug dealing and abandoned industries, then he explained that they were “hard years for me and my sons, Piero and Roberto”.
“I have achieved a life goal, I have tied my life to this work. I have never been discouraged, at any time. They have been difficult years. As you know, in this country, to realize a public work requires immense effort, sometimes acts of heroism. Fifteen years to dream of a different city and to realize it, to make an average city in the South, a European city”. The governor then recalled the flood of '54 that hit the city.
“We wanted this square for another reason too, because almost seventy years ago in Salerno and on the Amalfi Coast there was a flood with hundreds of deaths. Here in Santa Teresa, carried by rivers of mud, the bodies of our fellow citizens arrived. For us Salerno citizens this is a sacred place. Piazza della Liberta' is also called this to claim the autonomy and pride of the people of Salerno against political powers that for years have tried to keep us in a condition of subordination. This is the square of free women and men who have no political masters. For this reason Piazza della Liberta'”.
“For me it is the most beautiful square in the world,” De Luca continued. “Today is a historic day. In 2009 we presented the preliminary project for this square with Bofil. Allow me to say hello to Bofil, who left the hospital today. He would have been here with us, otherwise. It’s been 15 years since we imagined it. Our citizens didn’t know this piece of Salerno. It was a forbidden place, this.”
“There has never been a large project in Italy that has received so much participation and that has involved our fellow citizens so much, speaking of democracy. Then the ordeal of planning began: we are in Italy. This square has a surface area of 28 thousand square meters which is exactly the size of St. Peter's Square but with the entrance areas it reaches 40 thousand square meters and can accommodate 100 thousand people. It is unique in Italy and in Europe. There are other large squares but not on the sea. We wanted to build the underground parking lot, we imagined two promenades below the square at sea level. There are about thirty shops ready for next summer. In the meantime we have given the city of Salerno another 500 meters of seafront”.
The parking lot will be open in forty days, before the Luci d'artista, “because, I hope, we will do the Luci d'artista this year,” he said. “Tourists – added De Luca – will get off at the Maritime Station and from Piazza della Liberta' they will walk to the historic center. There is no tourist station in the world right in the center. It is something extraordinary and wonderful. This work must attract tourism and economy. Hundreds of jobs are linked to this square for commercial activities on the commercial streets, for the management of the parking lot. An extraordinary work has been done”.
A thank you from the mayor of Salerno Vincenzo Napoli "to the company, the workers and all those who participated in the creation of this splendid work. The square was handed over to the Municipality of Salerno. Now it is a square like the others, but it has something more because it is of rare beauty. I open it to the city, to my fellow citizens and to all those who wish to honor us with their presence.
Tomorrow – explained the mayor – the mass of the Patron Saint, San Matteo, will be celebrated here. This tradition will be honored, with free admission for those who want to listen to the ceremony”. Five thousand chairs will be placed in the square and the Secretary of State Parolin will celebrate the pontifical mass of San Matteo tomorrow at 18:XNUMX pm. “Tomorrow admission will be free for those who want to attend the religious ceremony because – as President De Luca also recalled during his speech – San Matteo belongs to all the citizens of Salerno”.
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