A significant redevelopment project is commencing in Palmi for the Lungomare della Tonnara, assigned to Alfonso Femia / Atelier(s) Alfonso Femia with Michelangelo Pugliese. The intervention is part of the “Aspromonte in città” program by the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria, which aims to transform urban centers into “green, sustainable, inclusive, and smart cities”.
The Tonnara area, while possessing great landscape value, faces critical issues such as coastal erosion, the impact of mass tourism, a fragmented public space, and car-dominated mobility. The primary objective is to mitigate these environmental and landscape problems, restore biodiversity, and promote quality tourism development.
The project is based on four key actions: PROTECTING the beach and natural habitats by combating erosion and flooding; CONNECTING the area with a sustainable and accessible mobility system; FREEING the soils to make them draining and capable of managing water; and CREATING new public spaces for various functions and enhancing the landscape.
Concrete actions include the regeneration of public space in the coastal district, the restoration of the dune landscape, the conversion of the former Camping due Pini into a sports park and area for social tourism, urban reforestation in surrounding districts, and the creation of a cycle-pedestrian path to connect the coastline to urban centers, along with new parking areas.
The design is inspired by the natural arc of the beach. It involves “depaving” 60% of the area to be requalified (which covers 3.6 hectares), using water (fresh and salt) as a central element to redefine balances and coastal defense (e.g., Posidonia planting, rain gardens), and strongly encouraging slow, sustainable mobility while discouraging private car use. The heart of the intervention will be a park spanning over 18 thousand square meters, with green areas, beach, dunes, and forest, enriched by planting of one thousand new trees and shrubs.
According to Alfonso Femia, the project “integrates the aspect of ecological care of the place with social, environmental, and economic well-being”, returning a precious stretch of coast to Palmi.
This intervention, promoted by the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria and the Municipality of Palmi, demonstrates how even smaller cities can be protagonists in significant territorial regeneration processes.
