They want to place a 60-meter Ferris wheel next to the Pompeii excavations. The minister: no way

“The excitement will be assured,” say those responsible for the Wheel of Pompeii project, a huge Ferris wheel, sixty meters high, conceived by a private company that would like to install the carousel next to the Pompeii excavations. The announcement of the stunt was made by the newspaper Il Mattino: the company, Iesse International Strategies, from Germany, has already submitted the project to the municipality, in anticipation of opening the wheel (which if built would be the second highest in Italy after the Eurowheel in Mirabilandia, the fifth in Europe and the 30th in the world, five meters lower than the world-famous Wiener Riesenrad, the wheel of the Prater in Vienna) on May 8. It would be a temporary structure: work would begin at the end of April, and the wheel would remain in operation until next fall. And if built, it would become the tallest structure in Pompeii: it would even be taller than the sanctuary.

The mayor of Pompeii, Pietro Amitrano, has already expressed his enthusiasm for the gimmick: “The Ferris wheel, as is already the case for similar installations in the world’s most important capitals,” he said, “is fully part of the list of actions to promote tourism in Pompeii. The potential increase in interest, both from residents and tourists, is such that it will lead to positive spin-offs in terms of enhancing the area.”

The Ferris wheel already has its own Facebook page where, between photos of an artifact and a pizza or coffee on the Bay of Naples, it is possible to follow the progress of the work. The giant of steel should rise, according to the intentions of the creators, in Via Plinio, not far from the highway exit and right next to the archaeological excavations. And of course, in order to enjoy the “thrill” of seeing the excavations from above, one will have to pay a ticket that will allow access to the wheel gondolas. Also planned are VIP gondolas, with sofas and armrests-ice baskets to allow allocation of a bottle of sparkling wine.

And of course, as is only natural to imagine a sixty-meter Ferris wheel swooping down next to one of the world’s most famous archaeological sites, no one agre es with the construction of the work. Beyond the social media users who have gone wild (there are even those who wanted to reiterate, on the same Wheel of Pompeii page, that “Pompeii is not Disneyland”), there are already some stances, from that of theCultural Heritage Observatory, a private organization that monitors the conditions of cultural heritage, to that of the minister of cultural heritage himself, Alberto Bonisoli. For architect Antonio Irlando, former councillor for culture of the municipality of Torre Annunziata and president of the Observatory, the wheel would be a sort of rape against the site: “raping the cultural values of the archaeological area and violating both the protection regulations for the strip around the perimeter of the excavations under the jurisdiction of the superintendence and what was established in the strategic plan for the development of the territories of the buffer zone of the UNESCO Site, as part of the Great Pompeii Project.”

Minister Bonisoli, speaking on the program Agora on Rai Tre yesterday morning, closed to any possibility: “there is not even talk about it. It does not appear from the offices that such a project has ever arrived, but if it did, we would return it to sender.” In fact, it seems that nothing has yet arrived at the Superintendency, but it is still not difficult to foresee a resounding rejection, also because there are precedents, when in Turin (just a month ago) and Milan (in 2015) temporary wheels that were intended to be installed in Valentino Park and Sempione Park, respectively, were rejected. And the same is likely to happen with the wheel in Pompeii.

Pictured: the excavations of Pompeii from above. Ph. Credit

They want to place a 60-meter Ferris wheel next to the Pompeii excavations. The minister: no way

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