Cagliari, 1.7 million project at the Bastione: new plexiglass panels and more resistant seats

One million and 700 thousand euros of investment, 365 days of works ("It is expected that they can be carried out entirely during 2024") and numerous intervention hypotheses, even if the most popular aims to restore the existing, but cleaned up. The Municipality of Cagliari has approved the executive project for the «Redevelopment and restoration works following vandalism and waterproofing of the vault of the gunboat of the spur of the Umberto I terrace of the Bastion of Saint Remy».

The green light arrived on December 28th . The technical report states that the objective of the intervention is «to implement all the necessary actions aimed at restoring decorum and safety to a place that can rightly be considered an emblem of the city of Cagliari». It's a shame that it has been abandoned to decay: «The acts of vandalism», we read again, «are mainly affecting the perimeter benches, the raised parapets covered in graffiti, broken, or mutilated of essential elements (probably considered as souvenirs) and they were perpetrated despite the administration having implemented dissuasive tools such as motion-sensitive cameras and continuous surveillance services."

The Bastion also has another problem: its original parapets are too low. "In light of the considerable extension of the terrace , it was not possible to hypothesize that the views could normally be guarded by personnel responsible for dissuading inappropriate behavior, while the responsibility of keeping a certainly dangerous place open to the public remained with the Municipality", it is written in the documents. For this reason, some design solutions have been put forward.

The overall intervention includes:

• the restoration of the current parapets, with the reconstruction of all damaged and/or missing parts and the cleaning of the existing ones",
• cleaning the walls, eliminating plant infestations and sealing the joints;
• cleaning the existing flooring, sealing the joints, waterproofing the parts
• above the Sperone gunnel and the large cave with a special surface waterproofing treatment, including the facings on the masonry after a leak test;
• the removal of the cypress olive tree closest to the spur;
• the evaluation of the treatment of the flowerbed which currently hosts the palm tree, following an investigation into the extent of the void underneath using Radar technology; Euro 50,000.00 will be allocated for this subsequently evaluated processing
• the greening of flowerbeds with tree species that do not require watering and excessive maintenance
• the renovation of the benches and bench supports with the addition of a steel structure to increase their resistance;
• the complete cleaning of all dirty and/or vandalized surfaces, including those of the furnishings present;
• the complete cleaning of existing drains and wells;
• the restoration of the chipped and/or broken treads of the monumental staircase.

Some hypotheses have been put forward regarding the parapets. We are also thinking of alternative solutions to those of restoring the existing ugly plexiglass. The ideas are in the images below .

The option of placing planters that would not allow you to get close to the parapet seems to be discarded.

While for the benches that run along the entire square «it is planned to completely dismantle those still in place and clean those that can be recovered. According to the project forecasts, a standard bench will be created according to a design perfectly identical to the original one to be attached to the travertine shelves that support them. The new 5 cm thick Carrara marble slabs", is the reassurance, "will be crossed on the lower surface by two grooves inserted into the thickness, designed to accommodate two stainless steel plates. The slab will also rest on the rear edge of an L-shaped support profile with the aim of giving the slab the interlocking effect. The elements of the armor will be made integral with the support bracket using a chemical anchor while the connection between the plate and the flat stainless steel profile will be achieved using a suitable adhesive. The seat thus reinforced will be subjected to a load-to-break test to experimentally define its resistance."

(Unioneonline/E.Fr)