The city of Cosenza will be able to count on two new nursery schools which will increase the number of places reserved for childcare services. The works for the construction of the two structures, which will be built, the first in via Saverio Albo and the other in via Asmara, in some areas of the city where the municipal administration is already carrying out significant redevelopment interventions, have just begun and will end no later than 31 December 2025. The characteristics of the interventions were illustrated this morning in a press conference attended by the Mayor Franz Carusothe Councilor for Public Works, Damiano Covellithe architect Carlo Salatinodesigner and director of works of the nursery school in via Saverio Albo, and the architect Gemma Potestio of the design staff of the structure in via Asmara.
“Thanks to the new nursery schools in Via Saverio Albo and Via Asmara, soon to be built, our community – Mayor Franz Caruso underlined in his speech – will be able to count, in addition to the two existing structures, on a total of 4 school principals , cultural and social which will bring the total number of places for children aged 0 to 2 from the current 90 to 160. Our satisfaction is legitimate – continued the mayor – for the realization of these two works, because they give a signal of the particular attention that the municipal administration has reserved not only for the most marginalized and peripheral areas of our city, but for the most weakest members of the population, namely children and families. Often the latter – remarked Franz Caruso – have to endure the inconvenience of not having the possibility of taking their little ones to public facilities. We have, however, reversed the trend. The location of the new kindergartens in our city is not random, but is the result of a clear will of the Administration which has identified the presence of the kindergartens in particular areas, where other redevelopment and recovery interventions are already being carried out”.
The Mayor also indicated the amounts of the investments: 1 million 191 thousand euros for the kindergarten in via Saverio Albo and 584 thousand 185 euros for the one in via Asmara which will be built by converting part of the building that housed the old “Tommaso Campanella” elementary school . From the 90 places in the current kindergartens (via Roma and via Livatino) we will reach, as mentioned, 160 places, 40 in via Saverio Albo and another 30 in via Asmara. With particular reference to the nursery school in Via Asmara, the Mayor highlighted the attention paid to infants, with the provision, in the project, of a specific area that allows infants to have their autonomy, with a dedicated kitchen corner and their changing table. A result that Franz Caruso considered important “for a city the size of Cosenza which rightly ranks in a high range, among those that provide the best services for children”. During the press conference the Mayor recalled how the municipal administration has always paid particular attention to the suburbs.
“What we immediately put in place, ever since we took office – he remarked – is the idea of making the city homogeneous and making it develop in a complete and complete way in all its parts. We have always said it: the pedestrian area, the living room of the city, is certainly the beating heart of our community because it is as beautiful as everything that characterizes the city center, but the city cannot live only in the center, but lives, it grows, develops and becomes attractive if it all grows together.” Franz Caruso also recalled the inauguration, within a few weeks, of another 9 Urban Agenda works already completed, in addition to the two that have already been inaugurated.
“Another 11 construction sites – he added – have already started for the CIS Centro Storico, two of which are almost completed. It was not easy, after 2 years and 4 months, to show completed works that serve to relaunch the idea of a city that not only wants to get back on track, but to start again with a series of creations that will serve to complete those that were inaugurated by previous Administration and which have remained unfinished (Piazza Bilotti, the Planetarium, the Calatrava Bridge, via Reggio Calabria, the former Hotel Jolly, Piazza Carratelli). Even for the “Rita Pisano” school the Mayor has imagined a competition of ideas “because it is a shame to see it abandoned and closed”. We – concluded Franz Caruso – looking at the needs of the population and making a choice of field in the direction of combating educational poverty and strengthening the offer of education services, unlike other administrations, we have spent the money, carrying out the works – and this is no small matter – because the money is returned especially from the South. Now it's time to look further ahead, we are also starting to dream and we are putting some dreams into action and realizing them.”
Satisfaction was also expressed by the Councillor Damiano Covelli who underlined how Cosenza has been recognized, also by the national press and by the Rai Radio Uno broadcast, “Che giorno è”, “among the most virtuous cities capable of intercepting PNRR funds in the specific segment of nursery schools, in a reality in which, especially in the South, there is often a lack of educational structures. Cosenza, however, was able to reverse the trend. Many more famous cities than us – Covelli remarked – have not managed to intercept the PNRR funds. The nursery school in via Saverio Albo is located in the context of the redevelopment already started in Serra Spiga and San Vito Alto – Covelli further explained. The holder of the delegation for public works also remembered, joining the Mayor, the late engineer Michele Fernandez, a very valuable collaborator of the Municipality's Infrastructure Sector, who passed away a year ago and who was very committed not only to these two projects, but to many other projects in the pipeline and not only related to the PNRR. “Michele Fernandez – said Damiano Covelli – he had worked hard together with the young professionals who were sent by the Ministry of Cohesion”. Then the councilor went on to say that “nurseries are entrusted with the delicate function of indispensable social safeguards capable of preventing situations of educational poverty and facilitating the reconciliation of work and life times for families and women in particular. The new structures must also be recognized as having the function of paying attention to the most disadvantaged and difficult families. The location in strategic points of the city – he concluded – arises from the strong political will that we have expressed to have more attention in the popular neighborhoods”.
After Councilor Covelli, the city councilors also intervened Francesco Alimena, delegate of the Mayor to Urban Agenda and to the CIS, but also to the operational coordination of the PNRR, the president of the Public Works Commission Concetta De Paola and the President of the planning commission Francesco Turco. Everyone expressed satisfaction with the two works that have just started and which will see the light by the end of 2025.