A civic committee forms in favour of the Fortress project

The civic committee 'Facciamoci Belli – Yes on 27 September' has formed in Bellinzona to back the Fortress enhancement project going to the vote on the first Sunday of autumn. The group brings together twenty-seven people active in retail, restaurants, hotels, culture, entertainment, business, media and sport. Around fifty supporters appear on the committee's website, and the public presentation is set for 24 August.

The vote concerns the 19.1 million franc proposal approved in March by the city council to carry out the first stage and design the second. Of that sum 4.5 million falls to the city and 14.5 million to the canton and the Confederation, with completion set for 2029. The money is earmarked for expanding the museum offering and maintaining what already exists. A cross-party referendum was launched against the proposal.

Four objections and four answers

The referendum campaigners contest the amount, which they consider excessive; the use of the name Fortress instead of castles; the introduction of paid access at several points of the complex; and the decision to hand management to a foundation rather than keeping it with the city. The committee in favour defends the official name, used in promotional campaigns outside the canton, notes that the castles will still be called castles, and points out that residents of the merged city will enter free on showing the Bellinzona 360 card.

On the value of the work the committee offers one figure: an estimated five per cent of Bellinzona residents visit the Fortress regularly. The monument is therefore above all a destination for tourists and visitors, who report a shortage of content and activities along with problems of accessibility and safety. Thirty-five years have passed since the first restoration work and twenty-six since the Unesco listing.

The financial plan foresees five new jobs after the investment phase and knock-on effects for the local economy estimated at 14.2 million, against the 7.1 million calculated in a 2015 study based on an audience of a hundred thousand paying and non-paying visitors. Revenue would come from tickets, the hire of event spaces, guided tours, the shop, audio guides and parking, with break-even expected in the first year.

To those who argue the millions would be better spent elsewhere, the committee replies that the cantonal and federal contributions are tied to this project and cannot be transferred. It closes with comparisons: Fribourg is investing 71 million in its new Natural History Museum, the restoration of Grandson castle is worth 52, the cantonal project for a Natural History Museum in Locarno comes to 36 million, the city of Locarno has budgeted 15 million for the architectural part of the Visconti castle, and Lugano's Lac has passed 200 million.