In Sardinia there are over 300 thousand empty houses, many at risk of collapse

There has certainly been no shortage of complaints and appeals from mayors in recent years. On the island, the number of empty houses is growing year after year and, especially in the historic centers of the municipalities with the highest rate of depopulation, many are at risk of collapse.

According to the latest report, there are over 300 thousand unoccupied homes in Sardinia. The greatest concerns are above all in the municipalities, more or less small, in the interior but also concern the larger centers as demonstrated by the recent cases of collapses in the historic center of Nuoro.

There are municipalities like Desulo, today 2000 inhabitants, with houses for 8-10 thousand people. But the same applies to many other towns: from Bitti to Orune to Bortigali where the mayor Francesco Caggiari recently launched an appeal to the institutions, especially the Region, to intervene. The first citizens have no tools to deal with this emergency and have no resources. In Bortigali, where several collapses have occurred in recent years, the mayor had to borrow barriers to cordon off the homes most at risk. The owners, when they find themselves, do not intervene and at that point, in dangerous conditions, it should be up to the municipalities who, however, have no resources.

For Francesco Caggiari, urgent interventions are needed: "I didn't apply to end up in the register of suspects for manslaughter - claims the mayor - because sooner or later tragedy will happen and lives cannot be repaid." And how risky it can be not to intervene is demonstrated by the recent tragedy in Nuoro, with the death of two teenagers in an abandoned farmhouse.