Tourism: Tropea’s lift becomes a ‘matter of urgency’ – 2.5 million allocated
The amendment to the Infrastructure-PNRR Decree tabled by Caramanna (FDI)
Key points
Lydia Toraldo Serra , one of the first ten female mayors in Italy – elected in the 1946 local elections and who remained in office until 1960 – had failed to ; alongside public housing and the establishment of schools, she had staked her hopes on tourism; the project had also failed twenty years ago when the municipal council had secured regional funding of 1.5 million euros.
Now Tropea, the tourist “pearl” of the Tyrrhenian Sea, will have its own lift connecting the historic centre to the seafront. This “surprise” appears in the Infrastructure-PNRR currently under discussion in the Chamber of Deputies, thanks to the approval of an amendment that classifies the project as “urgent” for tourism purposes and guarantees €2.5 million.
Summer with Crowe and Dua Lipa
The summer of 2026 for the Calabrian municipality in the province of Vibo Valentia had got off to a promising start: the ‘Gladiator’ Russell Crowe had announced a free concert by his band, the Indoor Garden Party, in October, and pop singer Dua Lipa had stopped off here during her honeymoon with her husband, the actor Callum Turner. Tropea had subsequently entered the twelfth position in the Panorama Turismo – Mare Italia ranking of JFC Observatory.
Funding
But the news that has pleased Mayor Giovanni Macrì the most comes from Rome: because in the PNRR Infrastructure Decree, in Article 4, amongst the “Urgent provisions regarding investments in the tourism sector’, funding of 2.5 million has been allocated to the Calabrian municipality for ‘a lift to connect the historic centre with the seafront, also with a view to supporting the development of tourism in the areas concerned’.
The amendment is signed by Annarita Patriarca, a member of parliament for Forza Italia, the party of the mayor of Tropea, Giovanni Macrì, who leads a centre-right coalition. The total expenditure is broken down into €1.8 million for 2027 and €0.7 million for 2028, and the funds must be used by 31 December 2028, ‘failing which they will be revoked’.
