Isola Sacra, a quaint hamlet near Rome, is embroiled in controversy over plans for the Fiumicino Waterfront port project by Royal Caribbean and Icon Infrastructure. Local authorities support the development for potential tourism benefits, while grassroots groups express concern over harmful impacts on the marine environment. Gianfranco 'Attila' Miconi, a local resident and renovator of one of the stilt houses, represents opposition sentiment, emphasizing neglect in the area’s management. The proposed project follows a stalled attempt to build the Mediterranean’s largest marina a decade prior, highlighting ongoing tensions between development and preservation.
For many years the area has been unloved. In 2010, plans were signed off for the construction of what would have been the largest marina in the Mediterranean, comprising four large docks, a hotel and convention centre, commercial spaces and luxury flats.
Local authorities support the project because they believe it will bring in tourism, but many grassroots groups oppose it because of the impact they think it will have on the marine environment.
This is a lovely place, he says. If it looks degraded, it's because authorities never took care of it. For many years the area has been unloved.
An old lighthouse now lies in ruins and not far away is the darsena dei bilancioni, the beach that takes its name from the stilt houses, or bilancioni, once used for fishing.
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