Ischia flood: The Council Chamber will decide on archiving tomorrow.

The meeting is scheduled for tomorrow in Naples, when the Council Chamber will decide whether or not to dismiss the request for liability related to the flood of November 26, 2022, in Casamicciola Terme, a tragedy that cost the lives of twelve people and left an entire community reeling from grief and questions. This is a long-awaited and extremely delicate decision, which comes amid a national crisis marked by increasingly frequent and violent extreme weather events, capable of transforming the first signs of a storm into an emergency.

As Italy continues to grapple with waves of violent rain fueled by the overheated Mediterranean and an overbuilt region, the question that accompanies every disaster arises once again: is our urban environment truly capable of withstanding? Or have we built too much, poorly, and without considering the true evolution of the landscape?

For Antonello Fiore, national president of the Italian Society of Environmental Geology, the answer is clear. A potential closure without identifying responsibilities would be much more than a judicial act: it would send a dangerous message, that everything depends on chance, erasing the burden of bad decisions, inadequate planning, and land management incapable of preventing predicted tragedies.

Fiore emphasizes the need for rigorous monitoring, planned and reliable soil conservation measures, urban planning consistent with geological characteristics, and, above all, a curb on land consumption, which for decades has continued to erode safety and resilience. On the eve of the decision, the island and the entire country await a response that concerns not only the past, but also the future of every territory called to coexist with an increasingly extreme natural environment and human responsibilities that cannot be ignored.