MILAN, June 10, 2020 – A long-term project, a strategic vision: this is what Pietro Salini, Chief Executive of Webuild, sees as a priority for Rome and Italian infrastructure in general. “Public works are to be done and done quickly if they are part of a long-term strategy that meets a broad vision on development,” Salini told “Visioni Romane” (Roman Visions), a project conceived and organised by TARI-Architects to stimulate debate over the state of architecture in the Italian capital. “That is what I hope will be quickly understood in Italy, which is a country of lost opportunities. We have to learn to apply our limitless talents as if it was most natural thing to do. During the time that Italy was arguing over whether to build or not the bridge across the Strait of Messina, as Webuild, we completed the second and third bridge over the Bosphorus. And as Rome debated a project to build a new sports stadium, in Qatar we built a stadium for the next World Cup – and it is one of the most sustainable stadiums built in the world. So Italy could be the ideal destination for the best that infrastructure has to offer. A ‘Made In Italy’ of infrastructure at the service of the country.”

Rethinking the quality of life in cities is the basis of every project, according to Salini. “Some cities are a series of small- and medium-sized self-sufficient cities lined up one after the other. But Rome is not the case. It has one centre and to move around in it is a real journey. Are there any international comparisons? There is Copenhagen, where we recently inaugurated a few months ago a new metro line called Cityringen. Up until 1970, it was a city full of traffic with one of the most polluted ports in Europe. Then it decided to plan a new mobility system and then build new neighbourhoods, planning innovative urban areas where people could live. There is an incinerator that also serves as a ski slope in an area where people can do sports. We must not - and it is not thinkable to - let shopping centres serve a places to meet. It is a model that has shown a lack of vision whose time has passed. As residents of Rome, we have to act against the negligence suffered by the city and save its unparalleled historic centre. There are also the outlying neighbourhoods that pose as a great urban challenge for the coming decades. They must be tilled and fertilised with public works. Abandoned buildings such as former railways and military and industrial areas must be recovered to become requalified spaces for the city and liveable neighbourhoods.”

There needs to be a model based on the successful example of the Genoa Bridge, which the Group, together with Fincantieri, is completing in record time. That project did not eliminate any rules. It applied all of them. There was a shared desire to complete the project. “In the last five years, we have been able to spend only four billion with the existing building code. This system of rules no longer works today, and we can no longer afford to forgo projects that can make our cities modern and sustainable. This country has given me a lot and I feel that I owe it something. This is why I want to contribute to help relaunch this willingness to invest. The bridge’s model must be replicated on other projects. We need a daily commitment to do projects legally and well. This is what was done in Genoa. The lesson that the country can take from that experience is that it can be done. We have the resources and we can take on debt. But we have to do it with an intelligent vision. Change is possible and the process of urban modernisation is often the spark that is needed for a cultural revolution that brings with it economic growth and well-being,” he said.