in 10 years lost 80% of the beach
The shoreline receded by 80% in ten years, damages that are close to 11 million euros. This is what the latest technical studies of the Soil Defense area say Lazio region. They are stretches of the Roman waterfront completely devoured by erosion. The stormy sea sucks everything up: walkways, cabins, bars and even swimming pools. Thus the beach of Ostia risks disappearing, also because the Tiber river, due to dams and obstacles, is not doing its duty but millions of euros in damage. The Kursaal springboard still stands out from Colombo but very little remains of that beach where Alberto Sordi walked in Fellini’s Vitelloni: over six hundred linear meters of sand have been carried away by the fury of the breakers. At the historic plant, the “Vecchia Pineta”, together with Luciano Emmer’s films from the 50s and one of Woody Allen’s favorite locations, are struggling to stand the stilts. From Hollywood stars to the emergence of this long winter of storm surges and tornadoes: there have been two in the space of three weeks. The last one just a few days ago.
THE SCENERY
The coast line to set back and the damage continues to the situation the dimension of “catastrophe”. «I’m out of words – confides Franco Petrini, owner of a structure on the central seafront of Ostia – I have lost the beach, customers and everything we have built over years and years. You just want to leave everything and go away “. “We have lost 50% of the beach – echoes Ruggero Barbadoro, president of Fiba (Italian Federation of Bathing) – from 24 thousand square meters of sand, 12 thousand with there are more. At this rate no one will come to Ostia any more ». Many of them are just waiting for a “miracle”.
THE PROJECT
The problem is that of the “brushes”, eight beach waves designed by “T”, in order to protect the shore. Rejected by the Presidency of the Republic in front of the Castel Porziano estate, the works, financed by the Region, started but suddenly stopped and now the cliff in the middle does nothing but accelerate the erosion process.
Among the main causes of the phenomenon, there is the Tiber and the lack of sediments from the river of the capital, created by the construction of various dams and reservoirs along its course. Paula De Jesus, state property manager of the Civic Evolution association – For years wrong coast reconstruction projects have been proposed in Ostia without knowing what the historical line is, to which defense works have been superimposed without any scheduled maintenance, which is why the barrier suffolta, which from the port reaches the Canale dei Pescatori, interferes with the local currents, determining the growth of or from the works of the distant beach ».
To aggravate the picture, the urbanization of the coast, which took place with the demolition of the dune fields to make room for various types of buildings and the construction of fixed bathing structures that have reduced the ability of the beaches to grow naturally. But even “do it yourself” solutions don’t help. The bags, in particular, under the violence of the waves, shatter rapidly, dispersing the synthetic fibers in the sand in the water. “In the period 1999-2013 there was an increase of 30% in the area covered by new bathing facilities – reads a Legambiente dossier – subtracting from the walkable beach an area of about 9 hectares compared to the 12 hectares created with the nourishment of the 1999 “.
Another factor of coastal erosion, often and not very measured, is the loss of sand caused by the wind. The removal of sand from beaches by wind action, in the absence of dunes or wind barriers, properly set up, depending on local weather conditions, can reach a few thousand cubic meters per year. Sand screening performed by mechanical means also affects the depletion of the beach system. According to recent studies, the watchword for coastal protection must therefore be “renaturalise”, that is to allow the coastline to be determined and redetermined in a natural way.
THE ROAD MAP
In front of the military establishment, the Port Authority has banned a stretch of coast: here the soldiers have secured the structure. The fight against the sea could from the south and affect the natural beauty of the beaches of Castel Porziano and Capocotta, the most Roman and cataloged as Sic (site of Community interest, ed). «Here the sea has already begun to” gnaw “something – reveals Mauro Franzolin, president of the Castel Porziano consortium – our luck are the shallows offshore that could save us from the waves. They are our only hope ».
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