Good Morning Mr Bianco!

Italy is full of small and medium-sized towns which underwent an erratic burst of development during the boom years. Many of these are now surrounded by depressed suburban areas and dormitory districts which lack basic services and links with the rest of the city.

Rectifying the errors of the past is no easy task: attempts to address urban problems and identify potential solutions often fail to get off the ground. In other words no precise vision of the future of the town in question is created or implemented. And when such a vision is actually constructed, albeit rarely and laboriously, the next problem is the lack of funds to put it into practice. Opportunities to right the wrongs that have accumulated over the years do not crop up frequently. At least two fundamental ingredients are needed: a key idea, a “dream” of how the city could be, and an opportunity to get funding, which often has to be improvised.

But things are starting to happen, for once in the one part of Italy that seems most afflicted by development-related problems. The good news comes from Sicily, from the town of Misterbianco. This small town on the outskirts of Catania represents more than just an example: it is a happy marriage of ideas and enterprise, with a vision of a new city which is coming into being thanks to funds from the European Union.

The name Misterbianco is derived from Monasterium Album (annex of the ancient Benedictine monastery of Catania), a religious site on the side of Mount Etna. The present day town, which was built further down the mountain after a flow of volcanic lava swept away the original settlement in 1669, has a population of 47,000, compared to the original figure of three thousand. The town grew dramatically during the last century, thanks also to its strategic position. Occupying a key location on the south side of Mount Etna, by the ring road that links the south east of Sicily with the motorway network (Catania-Palermo and Palermo-Messina), Misterbianco is well connected to all the transport hubs of the provincial capital: seven minutes from the station, four from the port and 10 from the airport.

These characteristics have enabled it to develop the second largest industrial and commercial area in the south of Italy after that of Naples. In the 1960’s and 1970’s the pull factor of this business, and neighbouring Catania, another key area for enterprise, began to generate immigration from inland Sicily towards the area. This demographic shift, combined with the lack of town planning, led to entire districts springing up without planning permission: together with the town of Gela, Misterbianco holds the depressing record for the highest number of illegal constructions in Sicily. The 1985 amnesty alone elicited 10,000 applications. This unruly development led to the creation of new districts completely cut off from the town centre and original nucleus (Serra, Piano Tavola, Mineri, Montepalma, Piano del Lupo, Lineri, Belsito), but lacking in functional autonomy and basic services. The nearby presence of Catania also reduced the independence of the Misterbianco municipal council, which has always looked to the provincial capital for direction.

The “dream” of the authorities was to heal the rift between the various districts of Misterbianco, thereby “constructing” a real town, uniting the residential areas, linking the centre with the suburbs and organising the infrastructures and services required by a town with a population of almost 50,000. The idea was to transform the outskirts from near “lawless” areas rife with unregulated building activities and shady business and administrative practices into districts which would flow into the town centre, both in terms of urban decor and services. It was a new vision of the city, liveable and functional for its inhabitants. But ideas alone are not enough, and with funds from the European Union the dream began taking shape. The resources came from the Urban II project, a specific initiative dedicated to regenerating urban centres. Misterbianco was selected, along with only 10 other cities in Italy, in view of the potential of its rehabilitation project, and it was allocated funding of 25 million Euro.

Urban II got under way in Misterbianco in 2003, and is set to continue till the end of 2006. The project, based on a complex framework of large and small scale initiatives, revolves around four main ‘axes’:

• Axis I Multi-functional, environmentally-friendly reorganisation of urban areas;
• Axis II Environment and mobility;
• Axis III Infrastructures for social cohesion and employment;
• Axis IV Services for social integration, enterprise and work.

The infrastructure projects on the first axis mainly regard reorganizing public areas, with a vast range of initiatives: creating public areas and parks, supplying urban decor and street lighting in the areas not reached by the service. Funding was also provided for initiatives aimed at improving urban mobility, above all with regards to connections between the various districts, and establishing a network of carparks to facilitate mobility between the centre and the suburban areas.

Axis 2 focuses on projects regarding the environment and mobility, in order to render both the town centre and suburban areas more liveable and accessible. In this context there is a number of projects which aim to tackle the rubbish problem and improve the quality of the water supply. Municipal facilities for recycling organic waste have been established and the collection of solid urban waste has been improved, with the purchase of mobile equipment to serve as a link between residential areas and landfill sites. The issue of water quality was also addressed, with the purchase of a well to increase supply and improve the network of aqueducts, in view of the fact that the existing infrastructure is relatively old and subject to a considerable amount of leakage. The mobility issue was tackled by increasing internal urban transport services, with the purchase of four minibuses, with the aim of integrating internal mobility between the centre and suburban areas.

The projects involved in Axis 3 focus on the creation of new social infrastructures, establishing three “neighbourhood workshops”, each dedicated to a different aim (training, leisure and recreation, and services for disadvantaged areas) linked to a workshop in the town centre, so as to give rise to a network of municipal services for the local area. Within this axis investments were also made in sports facilities, district-based facilities in particular, with the aim of improving amenities in the area, which was sorely lacking in services of this kind.

Lastly comes axis 4, which has the objective of setting up initiatives to foster social integration and promote enterprise and work, thus supporting the economic and social growth of the area. A vast range of services is being implemented in this context, from prevention, promotional and social integration projects addressing people with physical and mental handicaps, drug users and juvenile delinquency, to services for the development of enterprise, with initiatives aimed at legalising ‘black market’ labour, creating services for local small and medium-sized companies, assisting in the process of internationalising business and professional requalification for local artisans and small and medium-sized firms. This axis also includes projects dedicated to professional training and guidance for young people, and a programme of incentives for setting up and developing businesses. These projects have already had a positive impact on local business, borne out by the creation of 50 new companies as a direct result of the programme.

Almost three years from the start up of the main initiatives in the programme, the results in Misterbianco are positive: many of the projects have been completed or are running at full capacity, and those which lag behind represent a percentage which could be considered natural for a large-scale programme like Urban, with such a variety of objectives and initiatives. The implementation of the programme should also be seen as a genuine success story from the administrative point of view. The local authorities have in fact proved their considerable capabilities in terms of administration and adaptability, observing the strict regulations involved in project reporting and accounting imposed by European bureaucracy.

The only shortcoming, according to the project leader, remains the sense of detachment from the community, characterised by a general lack of trust in the institutions. But in spite of this the dream is taking shape, the town is buzzing with new projects and activities and it feels like the dawn of a new era. What more can we say but Good Morning Misterbianco!