A press conference in Palazzo Pancrazi this week to publicise the "state of play" on what has been described as the largest ecological emergency ever to hit this area.  The first public meeting was in December of last year and was billed as the working meeting for the start of this project.  Since then, things have moved quickly and already €2 million of public money has been found to get the project off the ground.

According to the experts, there is the real danger of large-scale structural damage due to landslides in the area just below Barga Vecchia, known as Fontanamaggio and Val di Lago. The project involves shoring up the areas at risk and filling in the bottom of the valley to stop the sides from falling inwards. 

Work has already started shoring up the road around Barga Vecchia (article here) and as new public money arrives the project will then move onto the next stage where larger construction and consolidation work will be taking place.  It is more than likely that the Sereni administration will be remembered in the future for being involved in what will probably be the largest bio engineering project ever undertaken in this area.  It would not be an over exaggeration to say that at the completion of this project, costing over €13 million, Barga as we know it, will never be the same again.

After the press conference, representatives of local and provincial government, architects and members of the cooperative working on this project moved out of Palazzo Pancrazi and down below the road to see for themselves the work in progress.

Listen to the meeting (in Italiano) in Palazzo Pancrazi by clicking on the link below
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