Susa valley, north-west Italy. Wikimedia. Public domain.A novelist, poet, essayist and translator is on trial. One of Italy’s finest left-leaning intellectuals, Erri De Luca is accused of inciting sabotage against the high-speed rail line (TAV) currently being built between Turin and Lyon along the Susa Valley up in the Alps near the French border.
Many people deem the new route unnecessary and are adamant its only purpose is to line the pockets of the construction companies involved, particularly the Franco-Italian Lyon Turin Ferroviaire (LTF). Myriads of protesters from all over Italy have fought a 20-year-long battle to prevent a 35-mile rail tunnel being dug through the valley; it will be among the world’s longest.
The many dissenting voices on TAV
Beppe Grillo, the prominent dissenting politician, leader of the boisterous Five Star Movement party, waged a massive campaign against the invasive rail project; he has written and publicly spoken viscerally against TAV a number of times. Mr De Luca is indeed in excellent company. He and Mr Grillo are not alone in what’s perhaps become contemporary Italy’s most apparent cause célèbre, the list of voices in opposition being exceedingly long.
