Milan, the maxi flue of KFC and the protest of the residents of Chinatown: “Because of the smell we can’t open the windows”

The fast food chain Kentucky Fried Chicken against the residents of via Paolo Sarpi 61 (where the restaurant is located) and the neighboring building for the internal courtyards of via Canonica 74. An eighty-centimeter flue in diameter that winds along the internal facade of a 1930s building and which «combines the noise of the kitchen engines with a smell that actually prevents you from opening the windows».

For more than a year and a half, the residents of some buildings in ia Canonica and via Paolo Sarpi have been forced to look out of their windows «and see their condominium decorum defaced. The flue installed in August 2021 by the KFC fast food restaurant has become a problem for the eyesight and beyond: the technical system, in fact, makes the courtyards of the old Milan-style buildings a mess, at the same time giving off a unbearable smell of oil and fried chicken in the apartments, preventing residents from opening their windows. This is the complaint of those who live in the area and who met in the «Gruppo Residenti Canonica Sarpi Ovest» committee. To this was added theimmediate depreciation of the surrounding houses.

Some innovations are imminent, which however do not seem to provide a satisfactory solution: technical modifications to which the residents, represented by Emanuela Vinci, look with diffidence if not to say open hostility.

“In addition to not having solved the current problem, KFC plans to move the filler towards via Paolo Sarpi, forcing other condominiums and even passers-by and merchants to deal with the unbearable stench emanating from their kitchens – explains Vinci -. Currently the flue develops from inside number 61 climbing up the entire facade of the building and emerging from the roof towards the numbers in via Albertini, with an 80 cm wide outlet. The images speak clearer than any description: this architectural monster is the visual translation of the economic power of a multinational chain to the detriment of historic buildings and the well-being of residents.

The result, say the residents, is easily imaginable: in addition to the daily discomforts related to the intolerable smell, it is inevitable that this system will lead to a considerable depreciation of the value of the apartments. Now «according to rumors this architectural havoc will be moved, according to the technicians to optimize the current conditions, on the opposite internal wall of the courtyard, directly facing via Paolo Sarpi. The result will be strolling down the street or eating an excellent pizza by the slice with the constant and persistent smell of oil and fried chicken. How is it possible that a fast food chain can so easily deface historic buildings and force residents of several condominiums to such discomfort?».

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