Marina, not just mussel and clam soup: the October nightlife between fights and vandalism

Many tables are occupied, waiters running from one place to another, the scents of mussel and clam soups blend with those of the spices of kebabs in a mix of smells that tastes so much like a souk. The intertwining of the local language with the European and Oriental ones makes up the colorful picture of the Cagliari district of the Marina . The old fishermen's quarter is a nightlife characterized by good food, on a midweek evening like many others. The historic district of Cagliari , which has become the plaza of nightlife, has been at the center of controversy for decades for noises, fights, dirt and vandalism .

Walking through the mix of scents of traditional Sardinian and oriental cuisine, dribbling the tables of the restaurants and the patrons of the bars of a quiet midweek evening in October, you discover a different reality from the one that is often told by the viral videos of Whatsapp .

On weekdays, in fact, the neighborhood does not appear a receptacle of violence and incivility, on the contrary, the maze of streets between via Napoli, via Barcellona and Via Cavour and via Sardegna seems welcoming. A little less via Sicilia and the stairway of Sant'Eulalia, with some shadows that move in a not very reassuring way.

The problems arrive on Friday and Saturday nights : “Here we are forced to suffer severe noise pollution and a large load of people, especially in the small hours of weekend nights, with great inconvenience for the residents, who are afraid. Fear because there are gangs of guys who come from all over and go wild in an incredible way after having drunk a lot of alcohol. People here are also afraid to leave the house ”, explains Enrico Marras, president of the“ Noise No Thanks ”Committee , who for years has been engaged in the battle for the acoustic improvement of the neighborhood and for the return to normal livability.

Indeed, in the street the noise is there and you can hear it, so much so that it disturbs a simple conversation with a normal tone of voice: “The streets here are narrow and the noise is amplified so much. We only ask to bring back to normal levels the noise generated by the shouting of people who stop to eat in restaurants and groups of passers-by - continues Marras -. We feel cheated. In the meeting with all the city district committees, they promised us new acoustic measurements. Measures that are useless because they already exist, so much so that a question has been presented by the M5S to the Region which is obliged to intervene by commissioning the Municipality of Cagliari. Many have had to sell their homes and leave the neighborhood. Another problem is the transit of emergency vehicles, ambulances and police forces. This is unacceptable ”, he concludes.

There is also the voice of those who work . Waiters and owners of restaurants and pizzerias explain that they have recommended "especially to customers who come out of the place to smoke, to lower their tone of voice, but unfortunately we can not stop them" and often the reaction of those who have raised their elbow is not the most civilians.

“We are here to work - explains Antonello, who asks for anonymity - not to be policemen . It is true, the problems are there at night and they are evident, especially in summer, but we cannot do anything about it. We close when the last customer leaves, then the streets remain at the mercy of the vandals. And episodes of incivility and noises clearly damage the image of our commercial activities as well ”.

The crisis is felt, many restaurants and bars are closed. “The boys rather than go into the brewery and hold back prefer to buy cheap alcohol in vending machines or small shops that risk heavy penalties and drink on the street. This - explains another waiter - also damages the premises not a little because we often find ourselves suddenly in the middle of a fight or a quarrel. And the customers run away, ”he says, spreading his arms.

It is difficult (perhaps impossible) to reconcile the legitimate needs of rest and tranquility of the residents with the tourist and commercial ones , especially in a neighborhood with narrow streets and with a predominantly elderly resident population. But perhaps to start it would only take "a minimum of good manners and civic sense" to solve the problem and live together in serenity.