Bagnoli: America’s Cup work is gathering pace. 45 per cent of the allocated funds have been spent
Monitoring by the Special Commission: work is progressing, and the works for the sailing regatta are being carried out according to schedule
Work at Bagnoli is progressing and the transformation of the area is becoming visible, month by month: a result that is in itself surprising after decades of failure and stagnation. Now the transformation is under way and proceeding at two different paces. The works required for the America’s Cup, which mainly concern the waterfront area and the coastline, are progressing according to plan: dredging is 75 per cent complete and the floating jetties are being installed. As for the remediation work, it is continuing but will still take a long time: the most complex project, that of the Urban Park, is expected to be completed in 2032.
As for the allocated funds, totalling 1.7 billion, expenditure from 2022 to the present day amounts to approximately 45 per cent. In summary, this is the picture painted by the Bagnoli Commission, which is responsible for all safety, infrastructure and regeneration works in the former Italsider site and which, since 2022, has been led by the Mayor of Naples, Gaetano Manfredi. ‘The clean-up and regeneration works in Bagnoli are proceeding at a rapid pace, with the immediate aim of having all the teams’ hangars ready within a couple of months in the run-up to next year’s America’s Cup,’ says the mayor and commissioner. In the meantime, in agreement with the Italian Navy, they will be hosted at Nisida for the pre-regatta in September. As part of the regeneration of the entire Bagnoli area, in institutional collaboration with the Government, the development of Nisida is also being pursued, with a social commitment from all institutions and organisers towards young prisoners.” Sport & Salute, the implementing body, is also satisfied that the work is progressing according to plan. “The first GB1 hangar has been erected,” they report, “and the New Zealand team has also arrived.”
But let’s take it one step at a time. The America’s Cup has picked up pace: at present, the work related to the sailing event is taking place along the coastline and at sea. “The breakwaters protecting the coast have been completed,” says Deputy Commissioner Filippo De Rossi, “whilst dredging of the seabed is currently under way and is due to be finished in October.” The project is now 75 per cent complete: it is being carried out by a temporary joint venture led by the Belgian group Deme, with Italian partners. The dredged sludge is mainly disposed of at treatment plants in Belgium. A major project – and one that has been the subject of disputes between engineers and politicians for decades – concerns the land-based area: the so-called ‘colmata’. Here, 80 per cent of the safety works have been completed on the area where the technical bases for the sailing teams are being set up. The Fan Village and the Media Club will be completed in the autumn and will be available from May 2027. “It is important to emphasise,” adds De Rossi, “that the area will be fully accessible in complete safety.” “We are talking,” De Rossi goes on to explain, “about temporary structures which, after the sailing event, will have to be dismantled to make way for a large panoramic terrace and green space.”
However, detailed studies are currently underway to determine how the area will be redesigned following the sailing regatta. As part of the EIA and SEA assessments, the Ministry of the Environment has requested further clarification, which the Commission will need to finalise by the end of the year. ‘The location of the residential developments previously planned for the “land plots” area, and the regeneration of the Coroglio district, are also among the issues requiring new design decisions,’ explains Laura Lieto, Naples’ Councillor for Urban Planning. A significant development is RFI’s decision to build a station on Metro Line 2, with connections to the Central Station, Capodichino Airport, the port and the city centre. This will be useful during the America’s Cup and beyond.
“Confindustria Nautica and the Naples Industrialists’ Union have completed the Business Intelligence project: the Official America’s Cup Suppliers’ Portal has received over 3,000 registrations from companies,” says Marco Monsurrò, vice-president of Confindustria Nautica. “Companies’ expectations are very high.”
