Sant'Antonio Abate. The future of the “Grand Hotel La Sonrisa” real estate complex, known in the news as the “Castle of Ceremonies,” is at the center of a heated institutional debate. The City Council of Sant'Antonio Abate has in fact unanimously voted the first address act to define the destination of the area, now municipal property after the definitive confiscation following a sentence for illegal subdivision.
Mayor Ilaria Abagnale illustrated the contents of the resolution, underlining the need for an in-depth analysis by the municipal offices. “The City Council has taken note of the ruling of the Court of Cassation of February 15, 2024, the reasons for which were filed on October 14, 2024, and has asked the municipal offices to prepare a detailed report on the real estate complex acquired as the municipality's assets,” declared the mayor. The goal is to carefully evaluate the options on the table: an urban transformation of the area or, alternatively, the demolition of the existing buildings.
The document approved by the City Council requires the Director of the Technical Sector to draft a detailed report, possibly with the support of external consultants, to identify the possible typologies, destinations and methods of recovery of the complex. This planning must be "functional to an organic connection with the surrounding areas", verifying the existing and to be built urbanizations, with the possibility of a "reduction, even partial, of the built and illegally transformed areas".
A crucial aspect of the analysis requested from the municipal offices concerns the evaluation of the costs and benefits of any transformations, both from an economic and urban and social point of view. In other words, different intended uses will have to be hypothesized for the area of approximately 44 thousand square meters, with or without the existing buildings, quantifying the costs for the Municipality and the benefits for the community.
Should the recovery costs prove too high or unsustainable, or should the feasibility of a recovery plan for the “Grand Hotel La Sonrisa” be excluded, the City Council has also provided for the possibility of demolishing the works present on the areas acquired as municipal property.
The final decision on the future of the Smile it is therefore postponed to a later stage, after the acquisition of the report by the technical offices and a further discussion in the City Council. The matter continues to hold high public attention, given the notoriety of the place and the urban and social implications that derive from it.
Article published on 20 December 2024 - 15:29
