Cinema America will not be demolished. Legal battle concluded

Cinema America can no longer be demolished. After eleven years of legal battle, the sixth section of the Council of State has definitively rejected the appeal filed by the private property of Cinema America, confirming what the Tar had already expressed in June 2020: the appeal is “clearly unfounded.” Thus ended the dispute over the historic movie theater in Trastevere, which was occupied in 2012 by Piccolo America to block its demolition and conversion into parking lots and apartments, wanted by the private property Progetto Uno Srl, whichhad bought it after its closure in 1999 at a price of about 2 million euros.

“After eleven years of struggle and hope,” reads a post published on social media by Little America, “the legal battle over Cinema America has finally ended. The Council of State has rejected the appeal filed by the property’s owner against the MIC as ’patently unfounded.’ We have one certainty: America can no longer be demolished, repurposed, and will never become a parking and mini-apartment building! The ruling confirms that the structure ’represents a significant and rare testimony to a very specific moment in the relationship between the history of the evolution of film technique and the history of art and architecture.’ The building,” the post continues, "still remains the property of Progetto Uno srl, a company that, after its closure in ’99, had bought it in 2002 for about two million euros with the aim of turning it into parking lots and apartments. But the company as of today is required to bear the costs of restoration and preservation.

From today, a new phase opens: for too long the wound of decay on Natale del Grande Street has remained open, due to a legal dispute advanced by the private property and not because of the protection affixed by the MIC. We thank residents and merchants of Trastevere who over the years have never stopped believing in this dream. To those who out of exhaustion started to embrace the idea of conversion in order to overcome abandonment, we say instead that the time for waiting is over.

On the basis of the work done in recent years, from the success of the Troisi Cinema to becoming a Foundation, we have asked for a meeting with the owners to evaluate every viable avenue in order to reopen Cinema America as such. The owners remain free to reopen it, subject to protection, regardless of our commitment. The important thing is that America returns to being an active theater. We won either way, and we will always be happy to see it open again. Now there are no more excuses: the fate of the America is now settled and we as a foundation are available to reopen it."

Cinema America will not be demolished. Legal battle concluded

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