The mayor of Cotronei, Antonio Ammirati (Fi), was sent to trial, together with 13 other people, for some alleged offenses against the public administration, including the «Rock music village» project linked to the figure of Steven Tyler, frontman of Aerosmith.
The investigation, in particular, focused on a 1.3 million euro loan from regional funds intended for the construction of the work dedicated to Tyler, whose grandfather was originally from Cotronei. The project was the result of an original agreement between the municipal administration and the rock star himself who had personally committed to participate in the inauguration of the museum with a free concert together with his daughter, the actress Liv Tyler.
The museum should have been created in the house where the artist’s grandfather lived before emigrating but it was then relocated. A choice contested by Tyler who already in 2022 had informed the municipal administration that “if the museum is not built in the building where my grandfather lived and married it must not bear my name”. Despite this, the administration had decided to change the location without and, according to the accusation, without completing it. Hence the accusations of ideological and material forgery hypothesized against Ammirati who, in recent months, had made it known that in the end, however, the work had been completed.
Together with Ammirati – current president of the Province of Crotone – the former mayor, former councilors Pierluigi Benincasa and Elisabetta Fragale, and some municipal managers were sent to trial. The trial has been set for January 15th.