Harsh criticism from Poppi nel Cuore towards the new Bora cycle path

Arezzo, August 14, 2025 – Harsh criticism has been leveled at the new Bora cycle path in Poppi. The opposition group, Poppi nel Cuore, is challenging the timing and methods of the project, which was completed by the Lorenzoni administration with funds from the Tuscany Region earmarked for other routes. The project is inconsistent with previous projects to develop cycling tourism in the area, and, above all, fails to ensure adequate safety standards for cyclists.

During the complex process of branching off the Arno cycle path and its variants, the previous mayor, Carlo Toni, had successfully secured €112,000 in regional funding to extend the path to Casa Basagna and connect it to the footbridge over the Arno River via a new sidewalk that would have led to the left bank of the river safely and without the need for traffic lights. This project, already approved and funded, was subsequently modified by the Lorenzoni administration with resolution no. 61 of May 26. The current mayor's decision was, in fact, to forgo the sidewalk connecting the bridge's walkway and instead allocate over €75,000 to the project for a lateral link to the cycle path in a new direction, the Bora, leading to the junction with Provincial Road 65. However, this route ends at a crossroads with Viale dei Pini, Via Pratomagno, and Via Becarino, where there are currently no cycle paths or sidewalks connecting to Casa Basagna. Consequently, cyclists will now be forced to use unsafe and heavily trafficked roads. This project, therefore, will require additional future resources to connect the approximately four hundred meters separating the two existing cycle paths. "We have submitted a request on this issue," Toni points out. "As Poppi nel Cuore, we don't object to the construction of new branch routes from the cycle path, but rather to the fact that it was first necessary to complete the planned work on Casa Basagna and the connection to the Arno cycle path, and only then develop additional routes. We could have had a finished and safe project, but now we find ourselves with partial interventions that will force residents and tourists to travel along dangerous stretches of road. The Lorenzoni administration's tendency to change projects already approved and funded by the previous administration has once again manifested itself, in this case with decisions that are difficult to understand and justify."