The Ciclovia dell'acquedotto pugliese funded in the Stability Law: the South had been left out of the priorities, its inclusion comes after a protest on Twitter.
The Ciclovia dell'Acquedotto pugliese will also be funded in the next three-year period. The Stability Law 2016 has provided for tripling the funds for cycling mobility, rising from an initial 33 million to 91 million for the 2016–2018 three-year period.
The projects initially chosen to receive priority funding were three: the Ciclovia VenTo, which crosses northern Italy; the Ciclovia del Sole on the stretch connecting Verona to Florence; and the Grande raccordo anulare per le biciclette Grab, which runs around Rome.
Many people noted, once again, the absence of the South when it comes to having projects put forward and securing funds. In this case there is no justification in the lack of projects, since one is already under way — having seen the inauguration of its first kilometres — and could drive the development of cycle tourism: the Ciclovia dell'acquedotto pugliese. A petition signed by 25,000 people was launched to call for investment, but that evidently was not enough to get the Puglia cycleway included among the projects entitled to funding priority.
Cyclists then mobilised on social media, launching a "tweetstorm" on Twitter using the hashtag #mancailsud, to highlight how, once again, there was a risk of excluding the South from an opportunity that is also highly attractive from an economic standpoint.
The campaign made itself heard all the way to the Ministry of Infrastructure, so much so that Minister Graziano Delrio subsequently clarified with a tweet that the Ciclovia dell'Acquedotto was also among the projects being given attention.
The Ciclovia dell'acquedotto is a unique opportunity because we are talking about a 450-kilometre route that reaches, beyond Puglia, Basilicata and Campania as well. It would be an important piece in the puzzle of moving towards a network of cycle lanes and routes that will one day connect the entire Italian peninsula.
