
The project submitted by the ISF (International School of Florence) for expansion has been definitively rejected by the municipality due to its negative impact on landscape and road traffic. The project would have involved leveling a hill in an environmentally sensitive area, resulting in the loss of 6.5 hectares (16.06 acres) of agricultural land.
In July 2023, at the request of ISF, the then-mayor Francesco Casini approved an urban planning provision allowing for the construction of several new buildings over 12,000 square meters (three acres), along with underground parking garages, parking lots and roads, in the Rimezzano Valley, where one of the two of the school’s campuses is already located. The area is subject to a landscape protection ordinance established in 1973 by the Ministry of the Environment and is part of a larger wildlife repopulation reserve within the greater Florence metropolitan area. The plan, which anticipated an increase in student numbers from 200 to 800, would also have caused traffic congestion on the narrow Via del Carota, the only road leading to the valley. This proposal provoked strong opposition from the local community. Some of the citizens even appealed to Italy’s president, Sergio Mattarella.
The current mayor of Bagno a Ripoli, Francesco Pignotti, had already announced in the spring of this year, even before being elected, that the ISF project definitely could not be accepted its current form. He suggested finding an alternative solution with the ISF school board, as he finds the institution to be excellent and certainly welcomed in the city. It’s worth noting that, after the project’s rejection, the International School of Florence has five years to modify and resubmit it once again. (Paulina Juzak)