Paid parking is back at the center of political debate in Benevento, with the historic center, local shops, and a long-term management deal all under scrutiny.

Ambner De Iapinis has publicly criticized the city's paid-parking model, arguing that it harms the historic center and local commerce. His central claim, reported by NTR24, is summed up in the headline phrase: "Il centro storico soffoca, il privato incassa" — the historic center is suffocated while the private operator cashes in.

The dispute is not only about tariffs. It is about duration, scale, and who benefits from public parking space.

The criticism: 15 years and millions in revenue

De Iapinis describes the arrangement as lasting fifteen years and argues that a commitment of that length could limit the choices of future administrations.

He has also estimated that parking revenues could reach 2-3 million euros per year. That figure should be treated carefully: in the material retrieved for this article, it is presented as an estimate without audited accounts to support it. The exact revenue-sharing arrangement between the Municipality and the operator is not established in the available sources.

The broader opposition argument is that the new parking model could make access to the historic center more difficult for residents, workers, shoppers, and visitors, with knock-on effects for commercial activity. Those economic effects remain assertions and projections in the sources reviewed, not measured outcomes.

What City Hall says: TMP deal, Porta Rufina, and Pomerio

The Municipality of Benevento presents a different account. It says it has signed a convention with TMP for the management and redevelopment of the city's parking and urban mobility system.

According to the municipal announcement, the project includes:

  • the reopening of Porta Rufina,
  • the redevelopment of the Pomerio car park,
  • new digital payment systems,
  • and the management of blue-line paid parking spaces.

In City Hall's framing, this is a reorganization and relaunch of parking and mobility, not simply an extension of paid parking. The retrieved municipal material does not, by itself, resolve the disputed questions about contract duration, revenue division, or the full list of affected streets.

The other number: Civico22 and the 350 spaces

A second strand of criticism comes from Civico22, reported by BeneventoNews24. The group claims that more than 350 additional paid spaces were introduced, concentrated largely in or near the historic center, replacing spaces previously available for free parking.

Civico22 links those spaces to a potential annual cost of around 300,000 euros. That calculation is explicitly based on its own assumptions — 350 spaces, two hours per day, and an average rate of 1.15 euros per hour — not on independently audited revenue data.

The precise number, location, and tariff category of all new paid spaces should still be checked against the official traffic and parking resolutions.

How to read the competing figures

Readers are seeing two very different numbers, and they measure different things.

The 2-3 million euro figure attributed to De Iapinis is a broad annual revenue estimate for the parking system as a whole, but it is not supported by audited accounts in the retrieved reporting. The 300,000 euro figure from Civico22 is narrower: an illustrative estimate of the potential cost associated with the newly added spaces under specific daily-use assumptions.

Neither figure independently establishes how much money goes to the Municipality and how much goes to the operator. That division depends on contractual terms that were not confirmed in the sources available for this article.

A second open point concerns the fifteen-year duration cited by critics. The retrieved material does not independently verify whether that period applies to the full concession or only to a specific contractual component.

Why the historic center matters here

The focus on the historic center is deliberate. Opposition voices argue that parking policy directly affects whether people live, work, and shop in the oldest part of Benevento.

If access becomes more expensive or less convenient, critics say, residents face a daily added cost, workers who commute into the center face the same pressure, and shops risk fewer casual visits. Supporters of a managed parking system would normally respond that turnover, enforcement, and reinvestment can help historic streets, but the retrieved municipal announcement focuses on infrastructure and payment modernization rather than providing measured commercial or traffic results.

For now, the impact on businesses and residents is best understood as a contested projection, not a demonstrated outcome.

What to watch next

Three documents would clarify most of the dispute: the full convention with TMP, the municipal resolutions defining the number and location of paid spaces, and any official tariff and revenue reports.

Until those are published and compared, Benevento's parking debate remains where this week's reports leave it: a sharp political challenge over access and money, a municipal relaunch plan centered on Porta Rufina, Pomerio, and digital payments, and two revenue estimates that illustrate the scale of concern without settling the accounts.