Genoa has implemented a new, rigid safety protocol that triggers the immediate closure of all public parks, gardens, and cemeteries whenever Arpal issues an orange or red weather alert. The mandate marks a decisive shift from the city’s previous practice of evaluating closures on a case-by-case basis.
Automatic Closures Replace Case-by-Case Decisions
The municipal ordinance removes the ambiguity that previously surrounded severe weather events. Under the new rules, the closure of these public spaces is now an automatic consequence of the alert status, covering the entire municipal territory the moment the emergency level enters into force. City officials designed the measure to mitigate risks posed by extreme weather, specifically targeting the potential for falling trees and broken branches in high-exposure public zones.
“The safety of people must be our priority, especially in the presence of increasingly intense and sudden meteorological phenomena,” said Genoa Mayor Silvia Salis. “With this ordinance, we introduce clear and uniform rules for the entire municipal territory, overcoming the need to intervene with individual measures.”
Massimo Ferrante, the city’s assessor for maintenance, infrastructure, and civil protection, characterized the change as a necessary evolution in urban management. “We are crystallizing and codifying an essential provision to protect public safety,” Ferrante explained. “If previously this decision was taken from time to time based on forecasts, now an automatism will start that will allow us to account for those unpredictable variables that can occur during the event.”
City Permits Urgent Funerals During Park Closures
While the closure applies to public access in green areas and cemetery complexes, the city has built in specific safeguards to ensure that essential services remain functional. Funerals with family members in attendance and other urgent cemetery services are permitted to continue, provided the facilities have compliant emergency plans in place. Operators on-site are mandated to exercise extreme caution during these operations.
The city has also stipulated that the end of a weather alert does not trigger an automatic reopening of these sites. The gates will remain locked until municipal personnel conduct a technical inspection of each area. Only after these staff members confirm that the grounds are safe for public use will the sites be reopened to the community.
