Italy (Brussels Morning) The San Rizzo Hills, and particularly their trails, are about to come to life anew. The Municipality of Messina is set to rehabilitate, revitalize, and enhance the areas and paths within the vast green lung overlooking the city on the Strait, innovating the experience for both residents and tourists visiting the city. The municipal administration, in collaboration with the Forestry Corps, is advancing two parallel projects worth a total of nearly €8 million (€4 million each): “The Forest Trail” and “The Messina I Envision – Mountain Area Redevelopment and Development.”
Facilities for Families
The goal, as explained by the Councilor for Productive and Promotional Activities, Massimo Finocchiaro, is to “revitalize five or six trails located on the San Rizzo Hills, from Don Minico to Dinnammare, in synergy with the Forestry Corps, which already takes excellent care of them, improving the trails and adding more equipment and services.”
How? The idea, which is about to be approved for Pon Plus 2021/27 funding («only the formal act from the RUP is missing,» Finocchiaro adds), involves geolocating the trails, creating a dedicated portal, and adding playgrounds for children, facilities for families, and charging points for e-bikes. While “The Forest Trail” focuses on enhancing nature and the trails, “The Messina I Envision” is more focused on integrating infrastructure into the trails. That’s not all—the initiative led by Mayor Federico Basile’s administration aims to add guides to the trails by training suitable personnel.
The San Rizzo Hills will have a new face
We’ve had several contacts with local associations, such as the Messina branch of the Italian Alpine Club (CAI), which has provided its maps and geolocations,
the councilor adds.
At the moment, we are in the final phase of discussions with the Forestry Corps, with whom we will formalise an agreement to select the most suitable trails and enhance their current efforts. We want to share a comprehensive project to revitalize and bring the territory back to life, also with a focus on tourism. This is a diverse and important project that must be shared in synergy with the Forestry Corps,
Finocchiaro emphasizes.
Once the funding application is submitted, Finocchiaro concludes,
We will be able to assign a surveyor to geolocate the trails and commission the development of the portal. After identifying the sites and preparing the maps, we will start training guides and installing e-bike charging stations. According to estimates, we will already be halfway through the project by the end of the year.
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