Rome: African Quarter Parking Lot Rejected by TAR, Residents Demand ‘Tripoli Park’
Rome, June 23 – The Lazio Regional Administrative Court (TAR) has annulled the resolution by which the Capitol had authorized the creation of a temporary parking lot in the area between via Tripoli, via Cirenaica, via Homs, and via Assab, in the African Quarter. The sentence, deposited in recent days, accepts the appeal presented by several residents and also cancels the agreement stipulated between the Municipality of Rome and the company Homs Greenpark srl for the use of the area as a non-ancillary parking lot.
At the heart of the matter is an area of approximately 11,000 square meters classified by the Master Plan as a “green space shaped by construction” and designated for public green areas and services of local interest. In 2025, the Capitoline Junta had approved, pursuant to Article 23-quater of the Consolidated Building Act, a temporary use of the area for three years, extendable for another two, allowing its transformation into a paid parking lot with approximately 300 parking spaces.
Imprecise Verifications by the Municipality
According to the TAR, however, the administration failed to verify one of the fundamental prerequisites required by the regulations: the urban and building legitimacy of the area. The judges recalled that in the past, Roma Capitale had already rejected a request for amnesty related to the existing parking lot, considering the use of the area as a non-ancillary parking lot incompatible with the urban planning destination foreseen by the Master Plan.
For the court, the institute of temporary use cannot be transformed into a sort of indirect amnesty for situations considered illegitimate. The sentence also highlights how the area has been affected over the years by interventions that have led to the creation of asphalted surfaces and squares intended for parking, works that, according to previous municipal assessments cited by the TAR, constitute an urban transformation of the territory not in conformity with the existing planning instruments.
“Parking Spaces are Needed, But Too Many Critical Issues”
Conversely, the appellants’ argument that there was no public interest in the creation of the parking lot was rejected. The judges recognized that the availability of parking spaces abstractly represents a collective interest linked to urban mobility. However, in this specific case, the critical issues related to the urban regularity of the intervention and the failure to comply with the same guidelines approved by the Municipality for temporary uses prevail.
Precisely on this point, the TAR emphasizes a further profile of illegitimacy. The Capitoline guidelines provide that temporary interventions should be aimed at urban regeneration, increasing usable public spaces, and containing land consumption. The presence and preservation of large asphalted surfaces are, according to the college, in contrast with these objectives.
The sentence, however, leaves open the possibility for Roma Capitale to re-examine the issue and make new determinations, provided that they comply with the criteria indicated by the court.
Residents to the Mayor: “Realize Tripoli Park with Pnrr Funds”
Meanwhile, a new request arrives from the neighborhood to the administration. In an open letter addressed to Mayor Roberto Gualtieri and Environment Councillor Sabrina Alfonsi, some citizens ask to definitively archive the parking hypothesis and instead proceed with the creation of the so-called “Tripoli Park,” foreseen, they argue, by the Master Plan and the Urban Certainties Plan.
The document, signed by Sebastiano Nizza, proposes that the Municipality acquire the area from Homs Greenpark srl using residual Pnrr resources or other budget funds. “This will be the most beautiful ecological work of your administration,” reads the letter, which describes the future park as a space destined for hundreds of families, children, and the elderly of Municipality II and the entire city.
After years of disputes and conflicting projects, the fate of the area between via Homs and via Tripoli thus returns to the Capitol’s desks, which is now called to decide whether to insist on a solution related to parking or to aim for the creation of a new green lung in the heart of the African Quarter.
Source: https://roma.corriere.it/notizie/cronaca/26_giugno_23/roma-quartiere-africano-bocciato-il-parcheggio-di-via-homs-il-tar-da-ragione-ai-residenti-d500c5a8-ac35-4dfb-bec3-b98cff27xlk.shtml
