Garda Cycle Route. Floridia's complaint: “Stop the work”

30 September 2025

Malcesine. Aurora Floridia, senator for Malcesine from the Green Party – South Tyrol/Alto Adige, Autonomy Group, returns to the attack on the Garda cycle path by presenting, together with her colleague Luigi Spagnolli, a new complaint to the Verona Public Prosecutor's Office. Floridia calls for the immediate suspension of work in the Baitone-Navene area in Malcesine, close to the tunnels, and also asks whether there are any possible criminal offences from an environmental point of view.
'Despite repeated reports from leading environmental associations, construction work is continuing, seriously and irreversibly compromising a stretch of coastline of extraordinary environmental and landscape value,' the MP said.
“We are talking about the felling of trees, the construction of a concrete wall close to the battle site and the transformation of a natural corner into an artificial structure that is incompatible with the context. The project, which was supposed to promote slow mobility and sustainable tourism, is proving to be the opposite: an invasive intervention, risky for the safety of cyclists and tourists and inconsistent with the principles of landscape protection enshrined in the Constitution and European directives," Floridia points out. In October 2024, she had already filed a complaint regarding the cycle path for environmental devastation and safety risks in Malcesine, requesting, even on that occasion, the suspension of the works. In Baitone-Navene, a €7.4 million construction site is underway, entrusted to Veneto Strade.
‘The section under construction,’ continues the Garda senator, "risks remaining a dead end, as there is no agreement with the Autonomous Province of Trento. This would mean directing cyclists and tourists into the tunnels of the eastern Gardesana, which are dangerous and unsuitable for cycling.
‘Our complaint,’ Floridia continues, "also highlights the possible criminal implications: from pollution to environmental disaster to the defacement of natural beauty, in an area already classified as being of high landscape value. We are calling not only for the immediate suspension of the works but also for a review of the project to identify alternative solutions with less impact, such as the hybrid lake transport system already trialled in Lombardy,‘ concludes the senator. ’It is essential that local communities and associations are involved in a transparent and participatory manner. The future of Lake Garda cannot be decided by concrete."

Read the full article in L'Arena.