Paths that end in nothing or that have never been over. Or that they are already destroyed after a short time. With the utopia that all of Italy can be moved by bike, they have financed – very generously – the most razor traits. Have a good trip…
What if we made a cycle on the Strait of Messina? The project for the bridge was in the highest sea but the then Minister of Infastructures, Paola De Micheli, already launched the bold suggestion. Moreover, there is no ecological transition without sweet mobility. Corsie for full -all bikes and any cost: in every city, country or place. Even where the utility seems doubtful and the benefits seem to be laughable. Only the PNRR provides 565 kilometers of urban slopes and 746 of tourist slopes. You have to do in the mostly: Municipalities and regions have until June 2026. So, many have launched themselves into reckless companies and bold experiments. With waste and sensational delays. Many motorists complain about reduced carriageways and unused routes. Many lovers of two wheels dribble down dangers and improvisation. Moreover, the lavish European funding have convinced droves of administrators to make even the superfluous and the impervious cycle, hitting the usual heterogenesis of purposes: abandoned kilometers of asphalt and further cementing.
The most pharaonic project is revealed back in 2016. At Palazzo Chigi there is then the unstoppable Matteo Renzi, lested to inform: “As a child I imitated Beppe Saronni. It was my idol ». It is his government that finances the system of national tourist cyclovies: ten endless itineraries, from Chioggia-Gargano to Lagonegro-Pachino, to “cross the Italian landscape between natural and archaeological beauties”. Six thousand kilometers, in total. Costicchia, of course: 750 million, explains the Minister of Transport, Graziano Delrio. However, in short, it’s worth it. Who better than him, among other things? The day of the settlement presents itself riding a flaming two -wheeled white, pedaling without hands like the expert runners. It is a champion ready for the final sprint: “In our cities the hierarchy must be completely reversed: pedestrian priorities and cyclists” he warns. “The others, on the other hand, must be in the background.” Nine years later, the Court of Auditors certifies that we still have to disclose. National cycle paths have unbridgeable delays. And uncontrolled disbursements: an average of about 323 thousand euros per kilometer, double the normal.
Among the funded projects, to say one, there is also the great ring road of the bicycles of Rome. Code name: Grab. Mission: rival with the most clogged ring road in Italy. The cycle ring, along about fifty kilometers, will touch the significant places of the capital: from the center to the suburbs. Cost: 16.3 million. Already in 2016, the mayor pentastellata, Virginia Raggi, favorable: “It is a great step towards a more sustainable mobility in Rome”. Five years later, Roberto Gualtieri is elected. And at the first point of its environment program, Grab still stands out. After further postponements, the Piddino assures: it will be ready within the Jubilee. Instead, nothing. The works started only last July: eight years after the bombastic proclamation.
Not even 150 kilometers of cycle paths to be made with greater speech to do. The track of “knowledge”, which connects the Termini railway station to the Sapienza University, is inaugurated last December with great pomp. The mayor Tiktoker, as they call him in the Capitol given the surviving passion for social media, informs the radiant bike. It will not drop of sweat, of course. The route is just 750 meters long. To make it, they have put, however, thirteen months: a little less than two meters a day. With this sprint, the ambitious general intent would be completed between two hundred four years. In the spasmodic waiting, the Romans enjoy the lanes already made with the sound of million. Like that of via Tuscolana: cars parked everywhere, sinuous curves, sudden strand, construction sites in progress. It seems perfect for an episode of “Games without borders”.
Milan lives similar torments. The largest patema is the cycle path of Corso Buenos Aires, famous in the Milanese shopping street. A kilometer line that runs alongside a very busy way. They did it five years ago. They are referring to it now, after fatal accidents and infinite controversies. The works will last (others) twenty months and cost a (further) million million, arriving from the usual PNRR. In the city, however, there are 328 kilometers intended for those who go by bike: only a third are delimited by the curbs, as the new highway code imposes. Half, on the other hand, is traced with a line on the ground, between machines that dart and motorbikes that zigz. Sometimes, the slopes are even “promiscuous”: passers -by and cyclists together, for mutual joy.
You would like to abound in Naples. The mayor Gaetano Manfredi, president of the ANCI, is a very sample of the verbal ecological transition. Naples is the last Italian city for kilometers intended for bikes. Yet in November 2024 it was decorated with the “Urban Award 2024”, for the “Adopt a cycle path” project. The prize, casually organized by the ANCI, is a shining example of collaboration between public and private. It is assigned just as the combative Naples Pedala Association denounces that the victorious track of Viale Kennedy pours into disastrous conditions: canceled paint, deteriorated asphalt, faded signs, obstacle course. Manfredi, however, relaunches: 14 million PNRR will be destined to create another 35 kilometers of new cycle paths in the city. Quisquilie, compared to the much more contained Foggia, which however can count on 23 kilometers destined for the purpose, for which six million have been allocated. The Apulian capital is thus preparing to become the Italian capital of two wheels. The goal is epochal: transform “a medium of Sunday locomotion” into a “real means of transport”. Congratulations.
European funds will also kiss the Amalfi coast. Twenty -one million euros will be used to create the lane that will go from the Lungomare di Salerno to the Angevin Castle Aragonese in Agropoli. Froters of visitors and residents ready to put on the two wheels. The chaotic kingdom of the Campania governor, Don Vincenzo De Luca, is a candidate to become the twenty -seventh Swiss canton. Even in this case, we hope it does not end like the Salerno-Papestum: after the twelve million euros paid out, it is now abandoned. Now they try again in great, with national cycle paths dedicated to travelers: 750 million for 6 thousand kilometers of slopes. The Court of Auditors, however, already reports unbridgeable delays and exorbitant costs.
The most pharaonic project remains the one on Lake Garda: 161 kilometers of suspended steel catwalks. In 2016, he was announced by Delrio: “A beautiful and good thing destined for those who love peaceful tourism”. Initial expenditure: 64 million euros. Six years later, the five -time quote. But the total, ensures the coordination that unites all environmentalists, from Italia Nostra to the WWF, provides that the final account will be at least 1.2 billion. Thus last January presents a new exposed on the increase in costs in the stretch of western Trentino. Just 5.5 kilometers, at the modest sum of 84 million: 15 per kilometer, 42 times the national average. With ecologist associations they also denounce “serious hydrogeological and environmental problems, as well as the risks for public safety”.
“A fantastic project” exults Danilo Toninelli insteadunforgettable minister of infrastructure in the Giuseppino government, in mid -July 2018. Meanwhile, inaugurates the first two kilometers of the cycle path. “It is the most beautiful in Europe if not in the world,” reports. However, the “Ciclovia del Sole” is also remarkable, which travels all over Italy. The yellow -green even insert it into the maneuver for the South. The usual De Luca takes the opportunity for yet another teasing: «A track from the Brenner to Palermo. And oh well, nun if a little, give you. I already imagined Toninelli who walked on the waters of the Strait of Messina ». Better still: who pedaled aboard a bicycle, as De Micheli dreams, on the edge of a spectacular cycle path.
