The Campania Regional Administrative Court: the Buca di Bacco nightclub in Ascea could not be closed

The “Buca di Bacco”, Ascea’s historic nightclub, could not be closed.

This was established by Section I of the TAR Campania-Salerno with sentence no. 1887/2024, published on 16 October, accepting the appeal proposed by the administrative lawyer Pasquale D'Angiolillo, defender of the owner company.

The closure of the dance hall, open since 1974, was ordered last January by the municipality through the ban on the continuation of activities adopted by the person in charge of the one-stop shop for productive activities, in response to a note from the Prefecture, and through a further contingent and urgent ordinance issued by the mayor, following an inspection by the Carabinieri.

These decisions had caused quite an uproar, requiring the suspension not only of musical and dance entertainment, but also of the hotel services of the annexed “Hotel Bacco”, which had been open for years with specific certified notifications of commencement of activity.

The protests arose after Tony Effe's concert on December 22, 2023, with the subsequent cancellation of all scheduled events.

Closing after Tony Effe concert in December 2023

On that occasion, the Carabinieri believed that the company had allowed an excessive number of people to enter, compromising safety.

The Council of State, already in April, had suspended the effects of the municipal measures by accepting a precautionary request from the same lawyer.

With the recent ruling, the TAR has underlined key principles on the management of administrative procedures for the authorization, control and supervision of public hospitality and entertainment activities, specifying the relevant competences.

The panel of judges annulled the order of the person in charge of the SUAP, highlighting the absence of the legal conditions for the exercise of the inhibitory power according to art. 19 of law no. 241/1990.

The mayoral ordinance was also annulled, since the conditions of extraordinary nature and urgency were missing, in line with the jurisprudential orientation on articles 50 and 54 of the TUEL.

The TAR clarified that these powers, originally of the police commissioner, are now of the local authorities according to the presidential decree 616/1977, not belonging to the mayor but to the municipal person responsible for authorizations, as per art. 107 of the TUEL.