Hotels, roads and the former prison of Fornelli: 4.5 million to revive Asinara

Improve the usability of the island of Asinara while respecting its environmental, historical and cultural uniqueness .

The detailed plan of interventions was developed by the Conservatoria delle Coste, the agency led by director Maria Elena Dessì who, having been in office for only ten months, has implemented an investment program of approximately 4.5 million financed by the Sardinia Region to enhance the real estate assets. The package includes the rebirth of Cala d'Oliva, the village identified by the Park Plan as the ideal place to encourage human settlement .

Three buildings are to be transformed into accommodation facilities, starting with the hostel where work is underway to secure the attic and the external walls with new fixtures (932,000 euros), continuing with the renovation work on the former penitentiary management (250,000 euros) to house a hotel and the Stecca Mare accommodations, starting from Casa Falcone e Borsellino up to Casa del Cappellano.

«The open call for tenders for economic operators for the management of accommodation facilities will be published next week », explains the director of the Conservatory, « whoever wins the management will have the burden of providing certification of the electrical systems, and the compliance of the sanitary facilities, with bonuses for those who propose improvements aimed at redeveloping the facilities ».

The former Casa Tedda (248,000) and the former Casa delle Maestre (450,000) and four mini-rooms intended to house the park operators were also subject to renovation.

The progress of the works on the island was illustrated by Maria Elena Dessì during the Asinara special commission, chaired by Bastianino Spanu, which saw the intervention of the extraordinary commissioner of the Asinara National Park, Gianluca Mureddu, of the director Vittorio Gazale and of the mayor of Porto Torres, Massimo Mulas.

Among the works already started with allocated resources (135,600 euros) are the improvement of the road system - 4 arteries - such as the safety of the cemented road Fornelli-Cala d'Oliva and the extraordinary maintenance of the unpaved road Cala d'Oliva-Cala Sabina (475,000), the route from Cala d'Oliva to Punta Scomunica and up to Punta Scorno .

Also in the village of Cala d'Oliva, a new public lighting system is planned (232,000) which is scheduled to be completed by the summer, while to allow the reopening of the former prison of Fornelli (918,000) for visits, the removal, remediation and replacement of the asbestos roofing in the central square (544,000) is underway, which will be reopened in September on the occasion of the film festival “Pensieri e Parole- libri e film all'Asinara”.

The master plan of the Island also includes the strengthening of the water and sewerage system, the reorganization of the concessions for the sustainable use of coastal assets . Furthermore, the objective is the creation of a large green lung, of about half a hectare, in the gardens of the former Director's House, in the village of Cala d'Oliva . The park will also be a climatic refuge during the summer season.

"In this enhancement process, the objective to be achieved in terms of a large area is that of a relaunch of the island's territory - observes the Park Commissioner, Gianluca Mureddu - following a process that goes beyond isolation, offering as a Park maximum availability to projects that involve the entire territory overlooking the Gulf of Asinara".

Mayor Mulas is on the same page: «We believe it is essential to share the planning and strategic development of Asinara with the Park Authority, the Region, and the Gulf Municipalities». A strategy outlined in the Park Plan that distinguishes the two D zones, Cala d'Oliva and Cala Reale. «The first represents the historic village, a small residential town where the Plan identifies the presence of a resident community that can take care of a part of the island», explains director Gazale. «Cala Reale, on the other hand, has an institutional purpose, in which in addition to encouraging the presence of institutions, such as the Park, Municipality, Region and University, we want to leave space for the establishment of a Foundation made up of various bodies capable of assuming responsibility for managing, in a shared manner, the real estate assets, where a degree course of excellence or a school of high specialization can be established».