Schools, architectural barriers, cycle paths. No priority in Italy

Schools, architectural barriers and cycle paths in Italy are the least of thoughts for the political class of this era. The paradoxes of the 2023 budget law and the latest news on bonus buildings.

1) Schools in Italy. Accessibility and safety of buildings

The school infrastructure in Italy they are systematically inaccessible to students with sensory (98%) and motor (66%) disabilities, as noted by ISTAT. (1) At least 30,6% of the 5.616 schools in Italy (36,8% in the South, 53,8% in the Islands) examined in the 94 provincial capitals then need extraordinary maintenance and anti-seismic interventions, according to the latest report published by Legambiente. (2)

Therecovery and redevelopment existing school building stock' thus received, for the year 2023, a total endowment of 'ben' 1 million euro – €24,71 on average for each of the 40.466 public schools in Italy – 'to start reconnaissance and evaluation activities of the dismantled school structures, equipped with a specific certificate of viability, present throughout the national territory, to be used for carrying out the school activities for the 2023/2024 school year'. (4)

2) Architectural barriers

12 million euros have been attributed to the Regions and autonomous Provinces for 'encourage planning' of the Plans for the Elimination of Architectural Barriers (PEBA), in small Municipalities with a population between 5 and 20 thousand inhabitants. (5) A couple of thousand euros each, to 'stimulate' the application of law 42/1986 under which:

all the Municipalities of Italy had to adopt, by 1.3.87, a Plan for the Elimination of Architectural Barriers (PEBA. See Law 41/1986, art. 32.21),
all the Regions and Autonomous Provinces, after 12 months, should have commissioned the defaulting Municipalities and acted in their stead.

Any comment is superfluous, except to note that Roma Capitale is still without PEBA, like almost all of the 7.901 Municipalities currently surveyed by ISTAT in Italy (6,7).

3) Private building architectural barriers

The block on the transfer of credits on bonus construction, which intervened suddenly with the decree law of 16 February 2023 n. 11, put an end to every chance support for the elimination of architectural barriers in private construction.

People with severe disabilities and their families – the real recipients of this bonus – are often without the economic capacity necessary to benefit from a tax credit. And thus they lose the only potentially useful measure to reduce their daily discomforts.

Thearchitectural barriers bonus' vice versa, it was abused by tradesmen and construction companies to redo only the bathrooms (of anyone) with 'floor-level showers'. Without even conditioning the benefit on the guarantee of accessibility of the property which in Italy is necessary, as we have seen, for approximately 10,5 million people. (8)

4) Cycle paths

'In order to promote the use of public transport services local and rail, in implementation of the general plan for cycling' referred to in a specific law (9), the 2023 budget law has inserted 'in the estimates of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport' The 'Fund for the development of intermodal urban cycle paths, with a budget of 2 million euros for the year 2023 and 4 million euros for each of the years 2024 and 2025'. (10)

253 euros for each Municipality, accounts zeroed compared to the appropriations in the 2020 budget law (94 million euros). Not even a crumb of what is necessary only for the maintenance of existing cycle paths, with all due respect to the objectives that are being pursued at a European level. (11) Neglecting the fact that cycle paths are also indispensable for guaranteeing the safety of children, the disabled and the elderly on the relative means of sustainable micro-mobility.

The European Parliament meanwhile voted a resolution on the EU cycling strategy (2022/2909(RSP)), on February 16, 2023, where first of allAsks the Commission to develop a specific European strategy for cycling with the aim of doubling the number of kilometers traveled by bicycle in Europe by 2030'(paragraph 1).

5) Who loses

The majority of the population Italy is the sacrificial victim of the denial of basic human rights to education, accessibility and social inclusion.

'aging of the Italian population is even more evident in comparison with past censuses. In 2021, for every child there are 5,4 elderly people against less than one elderly person for every child in 1951 (3,8 in 2011).

The old age index (ratio between the population aged 65 and over and that aged less than 15) has significantly increased and continues to grow, from 33,5% in 1951 to 187,6% in 2021 (148,7% in 2001).' (ISTAT. See note 12)

6) And who wins

The 'sovereignty' invoked by the government now in office takes the form of dedicating less than 0,01% of arms expenditure to schools, architectural barriers and cycle paths to be supplied to a foreign country in a fratricidal proxy war that risks a escalation nuclear power, after having dragged us into the most serious economic crisis since the post-war period.

The favourites in Italy from the maneuvers of Palazzo Chigi are a small circle of local potentates. Just to name a few:

200 million euros in four years to the 'ski lifts and artificial snow, 'in order to promote tourist attractiveness and to encourage tourist flows in mountain places and districts ski resorts'. (13) Which are added to the regional funding, € 70 million for Lombardy alone in 2023, (14)
2 million euros, equal to the total allocations for cycle paths in Italy, are instead destined to 'the enhancement, strengthening and energy efficiency of the Antonimina thermal establishment – Locri'.

7) Provisional conclusions

'When in Lombardy and Lazio, respectively the richest and most populous region and the second richest and most populous region (as well as the capital region) vote 31,78% and 26,26% of those entitled to it means only one thing: that all the political class of the second republic must go home' (Joseph Masala).

# Égalité!

Dario Dongo

On the cover, the shortest cycle path in Rome, 63 meters long in front of via Ostiense 133

Footnotes

(1) Dario Dongo, Sabrina Bergamini. 2 out of 3 schools inaccessible to pupils with disabilities. ISTAT report. Égalité. 12.2.20

(2) Legambiente (2023). XXII National report on the quality of school buildings and services. https://www.legambiente.it/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Ecosistema-Scuola_2023.pdf New Ecology

(3) Ministry of Education (2022). Focus Main school data - Start of the 2022/2023 school year https://www.fishonlus.it/files/2022/09/Principali-dati-della-scuola-Focus-avvio-anno-scolastico-2022-2023.pdf

(4) Law 29 December 2022, n. 197. State budget for the financial year 2023 and multi-year budget for the three-year period 2023-2025. On Regulations https://www.normattiva.it/uri-res/N2Ls?urn:nir:stato:legge:2022;197 See article 1, paragraph 560

(5) Decree 10.10.22 Presidency of the Council, Office for Policies in favor of people with disabilities https://www.gazzettaufficiale.it/eli/id/2023/01/03/22A07442/sg

(6) Dario Dongo. Architectural barriers in Rome, the first videos of Égalité. Égalité. 2.7.22

(7) Albertina Pretto. Historic cities, accessibility problems in Italy. Égalité. 27.3.21

(8) Dario Dongo. World Disability Day, Enough! Open letter. Égalité. 3.12.22

(9) Law 2/2018. Provisions for the development of bicycle mobility and the creation of the national cycling network https://www.normattiva.it/uri-res/N2Ls?urn:nir:stato:legge:2018-01-11;2~art3

(10) Budget law 2023, art. 1, paragraph 479

(11) Dario Dongo. Intermodality and sustainability in transport, 4 EU proposals in the Green Deal. Égalité. 22.1.22

(12) ISTAT (2022). Resident population and demographic dynamics https://www.istat.it/it/files//2022/12/CENSIMENTO-E-DINAMICA-DEMOGRAFICA-2021.pdf

(13) Budget law 2023, article 1, paragraph 592

(14) Fabio Fimiani. 70 million euros from the Lombardy Region for 5 ski resorts. https://www.radiopopolare.it/70-milioni-di-euro-dalla-regione-lombardia-per-5-stazioni-sciistiche/ Popular Radio. 16.1.23

(15) Budget law 2023, article 1, paragraph 875