Historic centre and livability: Municipality speeds up blue-parking

Historic centre and livability: Municipality speeds up blue-parking tender

Giarre, 25 March 2026 – The municipal administration has given new momentum to the publication of the tender for blue parking bays, following a meeting with Confcommercio representatives to tackle three years of chaotic parking that has affected commercial activity and the cultural use of the historic centre.

Mayor Leo Cantarella and Secretary General Marco Puglisi explained the technical reasons for the delay: the Jolanda multi-storey car park remains subject to a judicial procedure (a seizure on the surface rights), which requires procedural caution to avoid future appeals.

The meeting highlighted a shared intention to restore order to traffic and promote turnover of parking spaces, considered essential for the vitality of shopping streets and for visitors to the city's cultural routes, such as via Callipoli and corso Italia.

• Updated mapping of the area to verify the current status of parking spaces.
• Approximately 700 blue paid bays, with strategic placement to favor customer flow.
• Up to 140 white bays (20% of the total) free of charge, with a 30-minute time limit and enforced by surveillance.

Confcommercio, through provincial deputy coordinator Francesco Sorbello, stressed that lack of turnover has heavily penalized businesses: vehicles occupying central spaces all day prevent customers from parking near shops and undermine the cultural visit experience.

For cultural and commercial operators, reorganising parking is seen as a way to reconnect mobility with the use of historic urban spaces, while preserving accessibility to cultural venues. The Municipality has assured that the tender will be published as soon as technical and legal conditions allow.

Next steps: territory survey, final definition of number and location of bays, and publication of the tender. Local stakeholders are watching closely for the potential effects on livability and the cultural attractiveness of the centre.