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SIN

A visual research of the italian industrial landscape

A visual investigation of the Italian industrial landscape which, in the early 1900s, was strongly marked by human presence. The Istituto Superiore di Sanità reports that in Italy there are 12 482 potentially contaminated areas awaiting remediation, of which 45 are highly polluted. In 1997, due to their precariousness, the Ronchi decree established to distinguish and declare them as “Sites of National Interest” (SIN).

The project concerns three SINs in the centre of Italy: Bussi sul Tirino-Piano d’Orta (Abruzzo), Terni-Papigno (Umbria), Orbetello (Toscana). The fundamental knot that binds these areas is the kind of pollution: they have former factories of the Montecatini mining and chemical company (1888-1966), active or abandoned chemical poles, asbestos in a dusty state that prevents the reclamation and huge landfills that arise in the valleys or are stationed under the citizens’ houses.

The work is also articulated as an historical research, carried out to analyze the differences between past and present. These places lived the industrial glories promised by Montecatini, which today has been leaving carcasses on the back of the territory now incorporated into the nature. Indeed, through the geographical mapping, it is possible to visualize the intrusive industrial presence and the alteration of the landscape. This series born from a personal interest and desire to actively contribute in the fight against climate change. The aim’s project is to bring people closer to these issues and to criticize the economic and social immobility, which can have a better future, making justice to the people who continue to live in these suspended and marked places.

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MONTECATINI

Montecatini was an important and historic italian chemical company founded in 1888 in Florence. It mainly made chemical fertilizers, ammonia and sulfuric acid. It ceased its activity in 1966 following its incorporation into Edison, with the consequent birth of the Montecatini Edison group, later Montedison. 

These advertising campaigns have been carried out in the first half of the 1900s, so people wasn't yet 100% aware of the consequences on environmental impact. Indeed they help to understand how ignorance is one of the most negative conditions that people can assume and how the media can often confuse ideas rather than clarify them.

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BUSSI SUL TIRINO - PIANO D'ORTA

42° 13’ N 13° 49’ E

Bussi sul Tirino and Piano d'Orta are two municipalities in the province of Pescara (Abruzzo), which arise near the Gran Sasso Natural Park. They present toxic waste dumps, active chemical poles, former Montecatini factories and a power plant. The soil, the subsoil and the aquifers are particularly polluted due to the spillage of mercury, lead, hydrocarbons, arsenic, etc.

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ORBETELLO

42° 26′ 22″ N 11° 12′ 45″ E

Orbetello is a city in the province of Grosseto (Tuscany) which rises at the foot of Monte Argentario. It has former Montecatini factories which produced chemical fertilizers. The company's waste was buried during its underground activity; asbestos in the polvirulent state instead prevents the reclamation.

TERNI - PAPIGNO

42° 34′ N 12° 39’ E

Terni and the small hamlet of Papigno rise a few hundred meters from the famous Marmore Falls. Terni is a city founded on industry, in particular on the Steelworks, which is still active today. Papigno has former Montecatini factories, where chemical fertilizers were produced, and a huge landfill where the waste from the Terni industry is collected.