Atlas of Contaminated Sites

Site of National Interest (SIN), Broni (Pavia), Lombardia, Italy

Broni (former Fibronit plant)

At Broni, in the Oltrepò Pavese, the Fibronit plant made asbestos-cement products from 1932 to 1993. The town has one of the highest mesothelioma excesses among Italian contaminated sites, including among people who never worked in the factory.

Status
Remediation under way
Area
15 ha on land1
Activity
1932–1993
People affected
9,421 (2019)2
Media
soil, air
Kind of site
asbestos
  1. Area. 15 ha according to ISPRA (June 2024). The 2002 perimeter was amended by ministerial decree of 1 February 2018. Press reports give 140,000 m² for the factory area.
  2. People affected. Residents of the municipality of Broni at the 2019 census, according to SENTIERI.

Contaminants

Fibres

Status

Remediation under way

Soil: 89% characterised, project approved for 87%, procedure closed for 3%; groundwater: 93% characterised, procedure closed for 93% (ISPRA, June 2024; at this site the work mainly concerns asbestos). The second lot, which removed the asbestos from the buildings, ended in February 2021; in December 2025 the third lot, including demolition, was still being designed (Il Giorno).

Story

The factory opened in 1919 as a cement works and in 1932 was converted to making asbestos-cement products, which went on until 1993. According to the local press about 4,000 people worked there in all, up to 1,300 at one time. The SENTIERI site sheets list two plants in the site, the former Fibronit and the former Ecored, and asbestos fibres in soil.

The fibres did not stay inside the gates. A study of 188 people who died of asbestos-related disease in the Broni area between 2000 and 2017, all examined at autopsy, shows that those exposed only by living nearby or by sharing a home with a worker died of mesothelioma, while asbestosis and lung cancer also appear among former workers.

Broni has been a SIN since 2002. The clean-up proceeds by lots: the first started in 2007; the second, costing 13.5 million euro, ended in February 2021 with the removal of asbestos from the buildings and the encapsulation of the structures. The third lot, full demolition, remains: in December 2025 the Lombardy Region allocated about one million euro to close the second lot and design the third, for which 16 million from the ministry are needed.

Timeline

  1. 1919The factory opens as a cement works.
  2. 1932Conversion to asbestos-cement products.
  3. 1993Production ends.
  4. 2002Law 179/2002 adds Broni to the Sites of National Interest; perimeter set by decree of 26 November.
  5. 2007The first clean-up lot starts.
  6. 2018Ministerial decree of 1 February: new perimeter.
  7. 2021February: the second lot ends, with the asbestos removed from the buildings.
  8. 2025December: the Lombardy Region allocates 1,016,404 euro to complete the second lot and design the third.

Health

SENTIERI, Sixth Report (municipality of Broni; mortality 2013–2017, hospital admissions 2014–2018): excesses in both sexes for all-cause mortality, all cancers and cardiovascular diseases. Mesothelioma: 23 deaths in men (SMR 1,519; 90% CI 1,080–2,137) and 16 in women (SMR 1,910; 90% CI 1,269–2,873), that is about 15 and 19 times the expected number. Asbestosis: 4 deaths in men (SMR 12,702; 90% CI 5,703–28,294). Admissions in excess in both sexes for malignant tumours of the pleura. The report recommends checking the effectiveness of the clean-up and whether other sources of exposure exist.

In women with pleural mesothelioma exposed only through the environment or the household to the Fibronit plant in Broni, the lung asbestos fibre burden measured at autopsy was 6–8 million fibres per gram of dry tissue (Barbieri et al. 2020).

Remediation

  1. 2007asbestos removalStart of the first clean-up lot.
  2. 2021asbestos removal and encapsulationSecond lot (13.5 million euro): asbestos removed from the buildings and protective coating applied to floors, pillars and walls.

Nearby

Former SIN, Cerro al Lambro (Milano), località Cascina Gazzera, Lombardia

Cerro al Lambro

30 km

  • Petroleum hydrocarbons
  • Mixed waste

SIN, Pioltello e Rodano (Milano), Lombardia

Pioltello and Rodano (former SISAS plant)

47 km

  • Hexavalent chromium
  • Mercury
  • Cadmium
  • Lead

SIN, Serravalle Scrivia (AL), Piemonte

Serravalle Scrivia (former Ecolibarna)

50 km

  • Petroleum hydrocarbons
  • Mixed waste

Italy, Serravalle Scrivia (Alessandria), Piemonte

Serravalle Scrivia (land next to the KME works)

50 km

  • Copper
  • Zinc

PhytoremediationMycoremediation

Sources

  1. Siti contaminati di interesse nazionale (indicatore, dati a giugno 2024), ISPRA, 2024
  2. Riferimenti normativi per i SIN (aggiornamento 31 dicembre 2025), ISPRA, 2025
  3. SENTIERI. Sesto Rapporto (risultati Nord-Ovest e schede informative dei siti). Epidemiologia & Prevenzione 47(1-2) Suppl 1, Epidemiologia & Prevenzione / ISS, 2023
  4. Visonà S.D. et al. Impact of asbestos on public health: a retrospective study on a series of subjects with occupational and non-occupational exposure to asbestos during the activity of Fibronit plant (Broni, Italy). Journal of Public Health Research 7:1519, Journal of Public Health Research, 2018
  5. Barbieri P.G. et al. Lung asbestos fibre burden and pleural mesothelioma in women with non-occupational exposure. Annals of Work Exposures and Health 64:297-310, Annals of Work Exposures and Health, 2020
  6. Bonifica ex Fibronit, altro tassello, Il Giorno, 2025
  7. Fibronit, Broni, Il Giorno, 2021

Draft compiled from public sources, not yet reviewed.