In Genoa, action is taken on the aesthetics of a monument to prevent people from sitting on the steps

Starting in the coming days, Genoa’s Loggia di Banchi, one of the city’s most famous monuments, will never be the same: in fact, the monument’s aesthetics will be affected by the installation of anti-seating devices. This is stated in a statement issued last night by the City of Genoa: "The metal structure being set up at the Loggia della Mercanzia in Piazza Banchi is called a seating bollard. It is an installation that, in addition to hindering ’bivouacs,’ will contain, in the form of a lectern, tourist information and information about the former Palazzo della Borsa."

The initiative was curated, the note goes on to say, by the City Hall Center East with the Municipality’s Security Department, and was authorized by the Superintendence. The purpose, explain City Hall President Andrea Carratù and Security Councillor Stefano Garassino (both from the Northern League), is to deter frequent visitors who camp day and night on the marble seat of the Loggia. The Loggia della Mercanzia, also known as the Loggia di Banchi, was built in the late 16th century, between 1590 and 1595, designed by Andrea Vannone and Giovanni Ponzello, and decorated later by important artists, such as Taddeo Carlone and Pietro Sorri. It was a space in which trade took place, and from 1855, after years of work that saw the closure of the imposing arches, it became the headquarters of the Genoa Stock Exchange, a function it held until 1912, when the financial brokerage institution was moved to the building in Piazza De Ferrari (the Palazzo della Borsa). Today it is instead a venue for cultural events.

It should be pointed out that the Loggia is located in one of the areas of Genoa most frequented by tourists (it is in a high traffic point, between the Old Port and the alleys of the historic center, and near the church of San Pietro in Banchi), and the square in which it is located is a regular destination for hawkers who sell their wares in front of the Loggia and in the immediate surroundings. Therefore, it is not uncommon to see people sitting on the marble steps that characterize the structure, and the initiative taken by the Municipio Centro Est and the Department of Safety and Security is therefore intended to prevent frequenters of the square from using the monument’s steps as a support, although the installation of bollards (already present in several cities in Italy and which many, with bitter irony, have called “anti-poor” or “anti-bum bollards”) will entail an intervention on the monument’s aesthetics. The measure of anti-sitting bollards closely follows the installation of panels, throughout the historic center, reminding people of the ban, established by ordinance on Dec. 28, on holding and consuming alcohol around the city, in glass and metal containers, between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.

Pictured is the Loggia della Mercanzia(ph. credit) and, in the corner, the work of installing the bollards in an image released by the City of Genoa.

In Genoa, action is taken on the aesthetics of a monument to prevent people from sitting on the steps

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