The “La Piccola” compendium, the area that rises in front of the commercial port of Porto Torres, does not belong to the Italian railway network but to the Sardinia Region.
This was ascertained by the judge of the Civil Court of Sassari, Elisa Remonti, who with a first degree ruling rejected RFI's request to condemn the municipal body to return the areas and pay approximately 1 million and 171 thousand euros for the occupation of land as compensation for damage, compensation or compensation.
The “La Piccola” compendium, an area of approximately two hectares, includes the “Nino Pala” maritime station, the Port Museum, the car park and gardens of “La Piccola”, via Basso and the red warehouses of via Azuni. The request of the Italian railway network was deemed unfounded and illegitimate, which, through the lawyer Lucio Ghia, had notified the municipality of the summons in June 2020, with which it asked the judge to condemn the municipal administration to pay a sum of considerable amount for the occupation of the areas, claiming ownership.
The municipal body, represented by the lawyer Fabrizio Bionda, had appeared in court, objecting to RFi's lack of legitimacy, as the compendium had been acquired by the Region. The facts date back to December 2001 when RFI decided to dispose of those areas and, with a bilateral agreement, to confer the properties to the Municipality of Porto Torres through various deeds of delivery which began in December 2001, continued in 2004 and concluded in 2010, all in implementation of the Program Agreement - Memorandum of Understanding between the municipal body, the State Railways and Metropolis of 20 February 2001.
The agreement provided for the stipulation of a lease first and a sale afterwards. Formal steps never implemented. Hence the legal case from which the Municipality emerges unscathed. Nothing is owed to RFI as claimed by the lawyer Bionda who had highlighted cases in which some disused state railway structures had fallen within the availability of the regional heritage. Now it is up to the Region to conclude an agreement with the Municipality.
The mayor of Porto Torres, Massimo Mulas, is satisfied: «It is not in our interest to talk about victory or defeat, - he commented -. Our goal, in fact, is to obtain solutions that have positive consequences for the community. For this reason it is desirable that all the important figures involved in the process aimed at making a transport system in step with the times operational sit around a table. The Municipality and RFI, on the basis of previous discussions, should proceed along this path side by side regardless of the outcome of the sentence. This step, which allows the La Piccola car park to be fully available again, constitutes a further step towards revisiting the road network of the entire rear port area. In fact, it adds to the recent regional funding obtained via Ponte Romano."
