Atlas of Contaminated Sites

Site of National Interest (SIN), Falconara Marittima (Ancona), Marche, Italy

Falconara Marittima

The API refinery on the Adriatic coast north of Ancona, hard against the town and the railway, and a former Montedison phosphate-fertiliser works with pyrite ash on the beach. Hydrocarbons in soil and shallow groundwater; metals and chlorinated solvents in the former Montedison area.

Status
Under assessment
Area
108 ha on land, 1,200 ha in water1
Activity
since 1950
Media
soil, groundwater, sediment
Kind of site
oil, agrochemicals, chemical works, port
  1. Area. About 108 hectares on land and about 1,200 of coastal sea (MASE fact sheet, 2021); SENTIERI gives 1,165 hectares at sea.

Contaminants

Metals

Metalloids

Organic compounds

Other inorganics

Status

Under assessment

The Programme Agreement of 20 July 2010 has expired and in 2021 talks on a new instrument were under way; some areas had not yet been characterised (MASE fact sheet, 2021). No up-to-date official percentage was found.

Story

Homes, services and high-impact plants sit side by side in the site. The API refinery of Ancona refines and stores petroleum products; next to it, across the Bologna-Taranto railway line, stands the disused «ex Montedison» works, which made phosphate fertilisers, with the beach in front. The perimeter includes other firms, the public «ex Antonelli» area and the coastal sea strip.

In the refinery area soil and shallow groundwater widely exceed thresholds for hydrocarbon products. In the former Montedison area there is waste made up of pyrite ash and phosphate residues; soils widely exceed thresholds for heavy metals, and groundwater for chlorinated solvents, iron and manganese.

The site has been a SIN since 2002. For the former Montedison area the local authorities have planned a recovery and conversion project.

Timeline

  1. 1950Industrial activity (the refinery) begins.
  2. 2002Law 179/2002 names Falconara Marittima a SIN.
  3. 2003Perimeter set by decree of 26 February 2003.
  4. 2010Programme Agreement for containment and remediation (20 July), since expired.

Health

SENTIERI, Sixth Report (2023; mortality 2013-2017, hospital admissions 2014-2018, regional reference): all-cause mortality and mortality from circulatory and respiratory diseases below expected in both sexes; excess mortality from all malignant tumours in women only and, with an uncertain estimate, from lung cancer in men. Hospital admissions are in excess in both sexes for all natural causes, all cancers and digestive diseases. Between ages 0 and 29 there is an excess of admissions for leukaemia based on 5 cases.

From the literature

Species that acted on one of this site's contaminants in at least one study. The list is automatic and takes no account of this site's soil, concentrations or climate.

Plants

Fungi

The rest are on the contaminant pages.

Nearby

Former SIN, Bassa valle del Chienti (Macerata, Fermo), Marche

Lower Chienti river basin

46 km

  • Chlorinated solvents (TCE, PCE, chloroform)
  • BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylenes)
  • Petroleum hydrocarbons
  • Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

SIN, Umbria

Terni - Papigno

133 km

  • Asbestos
  • Polychlorinated biphenyls
  • Chromium
  • Nickel

SIN, Bussi sul Tirino, Bolognano (Pescara), Abruzzo

Bussi sul Tirino

164 km

  • Chlorinated solvents (TCE, PCE, chloroform)
  • Vinyl chloride
  • Mercury
  • Lead

Trial, Toscana

Murlo, suoli serpentinitici

169 km

  • Nickel

Phytoremediation

Sources

  1. Scheda SIN Falconara Marittima (copia d'archivio), MASE, 2021
  2. Riferimenti normativi per i Siti di bonifica di Interesse Nazionale (agg. 31 dicembre 2025), ISPRA, 2025
  3. SENTIERI. Sesto Rapporto - Falconara Marittima (Epidemiol Prev 2023;47(1-2) Suppl 1), con allegato "Informazioni sui 46 siti studiati", Epidemiologia & Prevenzione / ISS, 2023

Draft compiled from public sources, not yet reviewed.