Judicial freeze hits €8m ski upgrade in Lucano park as prosecutors allege works began before approvals

A judge in Potenza has upheld a preventive seizure of the construction site for a new chairlift in the Sellata–Pierfaone ski area, halting tree-felling and earthworks while prosecutors investigate alleged falsification, environmental offences and breaches of protected-area rules.

What happened, and where

The seizure concerns a roughly 500-metre stretch tied to the alignment of the new chairlift inside the Sellata–Pierfaone ski complex in the municipality of Abriola (Potenza), within the Lucan Apennines National Park and the “Faggeta di Monte Pierfaone” Special Conservation Zone (Natura 2000). Forest Carabinieri executed the measure after a probe by the Potenza prosecutor’s office; on 7 September the preliminary investigations judge (GIP) validated the seizure, keeping the stop in place.

The allegations at the heart of the case

Prosecutors are examining multiple potential offences linked to how the redevelopment project was drawn up and authorised, with the project’s single point of responsibility (the RUP) named in the decree. The key hypotheses include:

Ideological falsification (falso ideologico) in project documentation.

Environmental pollution connected to the felling of hundreds of mature trees in a protected area.

Breaches of protected‑area and landscape laws, including carrying out works inside the national park without the park body’s prior clearance on the executive design.

Additional counts cited in the decree cover unauthorised landscape works, destruction of natural beauty, and building/urban-planning violations for executing works without required permits.

Timeline that triggered the seizure

Investigators say the executive project was approved on 6 August 2026, but that tree-felling works had already begun before that sign‑off, with cutting contracts awarded directly to three firms. The seizure decree, dated 27 August and filed on 29 August, ordered an immediate halt to cutting and excavation in the seized strip.

Scale of the intervention and environmental flashpoint

The wider redevelopment, backed by the Basilicata region with around €8 million in PO FESR funds, includes a 480‑metre synthetic ski slope (promoted as Italy’s longest), the new chairlift (rising from about 1,350 m to 1,500 m to link with existing lifts up to 1,737 m), plus parking and ancillary infrastructure. Environmental groups have focused on the projected removal of around 809–951 mature trees (mainly beech and alder) inside protected zones, prompting complaints from WWF and Legambiente and a political row over the administrative process.

Political and institutional reactions

Abriola’s mayor, Romano Triunfo, has stressed that only the 500‑metre chairlift corridor is seized and that other parts of the three‑kilometre‑radius scheme are continuing. Opposition councillors have called for full transparency and access to files, while Legambiente says the prosecution’s findings confirm “serious criticalities” it had flagged, including the lack of prior park clearance on the executive design.

What comes next

With the GIP’s validation, the preventive seizure remains in force while investigations proceed. Any further construction in the seized area is barred until authorities lift the measure or a court rules otherwise; separately, administrative challenges (including at the regional administrative court, TAR) are unfolding in parallel.