How to take over the management of a roadhouse

Roadhouses represent a wonderful opportunity: they can be managed through rent, purchase, or even a simple concession. They can also be transformed, as has happened, into mini-hotels.

Roadmen's houses are part of Italy's history, part of our architectural heritage, and part of the country's civic growth. Scattered throughout Italy's various regions, they are beautiful and elegant, and until now we have too often wasted them.

Painted in classic Pompeian red , these buildings, owned by Anas (the National Autonomous Road Company), took their name from the "roadmen," or maintenance workers. They actually housed the road workers who maintained the roads.

Since the early 1980s, Anas (which had since been taken over by Ferrovie Italiane) began closing and dismantling roadhouses , squandering a heritage that could have been repurposed. This is finally happening with the building tenders, which can be found on these websites:

• https://www.stradeanas.it 
• https://www.fsitaliane.it

Roadhouses are also offered as part of the “Valore Paese” project (an initiative by ANAS, the State Property Agency, MIT, and MIBACT), which often includes lists and calls for tenders for the valorization of public assets such as roadhouses.

The reference site for the “Valore Italia” project is:

• https://www.agenziademanio.it

There may also be calls for tenders at the regional level for the assignment of roadhouses.

The conditions for assigning the property include a commitment to redevelop it, a proposed use, sustainable use, and an assessment of its impact on the area.

To understand the potential of a historical-cultural heritage, let's take the example of the red house assigned to Vincenzo Ferrandes , a 36-year-old agricultural expert in the small town of Borgo Grappa in Lazio. Thanks to an 18-year contract, the building was renovated and became La Stazione del Sole , a bike hotel, a hub for social and cultural activities, with an information point and a bicycle workshop . A place that has brought benefits to the entire area, thus enabling the revitalization of Borgo Grappa.

Cover image photo credit: ricochet64/Shutterstock.com

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