Villa San Giovanni intermodal hub

Inaugurated in 1884, Villa San Giovanni station, depending on its fast growth and geographical location, was connected to the ferry port by railway junction, the basis of the ferry service for railroad rolling stock.

The station complex, for the city and the territory of Villa San Giovanni covers a role of absolute functional centrality, setting in an urban and territorial context affected by major functional criticalities such as the absence of urban and service spaces dedicated to railway users, and criticalities related to the management of pedestrian and vehicular flows from the ferry service. The project, thanks to a meticulous transportation study returns to the territory an infrastructure suitable for future developments and properly set into the territorial context, playing a primary role also in the redevelopment of the waterfront of Villa San Giovanni.

The multi-year infrastructure redevelopment program operated by RFI envisages, for the Villa San Giovanni station, upgrading works for intermodal services, generally railway-use targeted. The design, in addition to defining a new configuration of flows in the port areas, includes seismic upgrades and restyling of the passenger building, as well as the construction of a new Maritime Terminal directly connected to the boarding gangways to the ferries and to the railway compartment, through the construction of a new pedestrian overpass. The new configuration of the railway hub features design and formal choices aimed at the environmental redevelopment of the stretch of waterfront covered by the interventions.

Given the changing needs, resulting from a constant increase in the number of rail users of the Villa San Giovanni station for connections between the continent and Sicily, dedicated passenger spaces and implementation of secondary services are also planned in the new layout of the passenger building and the maritime terminal.

Since the project is set in a geographical and territorial context with great geological and seismic peculiarities, to adapt the choices to this context, an in-depth study was also conducted on the "simulation of tidal waves" along the coasts of the Strait of Messina, as a result of which technologies were selected that assure full safety in case of natural disasters.

The application of the Envision® Protocol and compliance with the DNSH (Do Not Significant Harm) principle has determined the development of a project that is attentive to sustainability from a social, economic and environmental point of view, including the conscious use of energy, the new lighting system with more efficient elements, the replacement of fixtures, the installation of photovoltaic panels on the roof and the implementation of a natural ventilation system through open connections. All of this is combined with the 'use of sustainable building materials, with a focus on compliance with sustainability labels and the percentage of recycled content.

Sustainable management of the construction site and design, with mitigation of impacts from pollutants (dust, noise, etc.) and reduction of water and energy consumption, has increased the resilience of the infrastructure, thanks to the construction of new railway overpass connecting the rail and maritime areas. The increase in access was also considered, as well as the redevelopment and re-functionalization of degraded areas, and so on the enhancement of a cultural asset, passenger building, improving landscape insertion of the entire complex, thanks to the renovation of the shipping terminal.