Former SIN, now under the region, Province di Caserta e Napoli, Campania, Italy
Litorale Domizio Flegreo and Agro Aversano ("Terra dei Fuochi")
A vast area between the provinces of Caserta and Naples marked by municipal and industrial waste landfills and illegal dumping, known as the «Terra dei Fuochi» (Land of Fires). It was Italy's largest SIN until 2013, when it passed to the Campania Region.
At a glance
- Status
- Under assessment
- Area
- 157,025 ha on land, 22,412 ha in water1
- Activity
- since 1980
- Media
- soil, groundwater
- Kind of site
- illegal dumping, landfill
- Area. 157,025 hectares on land and 22,412 at sea according to SENTIERI (2023): it was the largest of the SINs.
Contaminants
Status
Under assessment
Since 2013 remediation has been the Region's responsibility. No up-to-date official source on the state of characterisation and remediation was found; the status given here is a cautious one.
Story
The site covers dozens of municipalities across the Domitian coast, the Phlegraean area and the Aversa plain. Contamination comes not from a single plant but from municipal and industrial waste landfills and illegal dumping sites, from the 1980s on; SENTIERI also mentions some industrial plants (ex Alenia Marconi, Total Italia, ex TRW).
Soils were found to contain dioxins, metals (beryllium, strontium, copper, arsenic, thallium) and heavy hydrocarbons. Groundwater holds metals (iron, lead, manganese, nickel, chromium VI, arsenic, mercury), mineral oils, PCBs, MTBE, benzene, toluene, xylene and chlorinated solvents (tetrachloroethylene, trichloroethylene, chloroform, 1,2-dichloropropane, 1,1-dichloroethylene).
Named a SIN by law 426/1998 and delimited between 2000 and 2006, the site was handed to the Region in 2013. In 2020 law 120 brought one part of it, the Area vasta di Giugliano, back under State responsibility because of its landfills and waste treatment plants.
Timeline
- 1998Law 426/1998 names the site a SIN.
- 2000First perimeter (decree of 10 January 2000), later extended in 2001 and 2006.
- 2013The decree of 11 January 2013 hands the site to the Campania Region.
- 2020Law 120/2020 names the Area vasta di Giugliano SIN within the former SIN.
Health
SENTIERI, Sixth Report (2023; mortality 2013-2017, hospital admissions 2014-2018, regional reference): all-cause mortality, mortality from all malignant tumours and from the main cause groups in excess in both sexes. Among causes linked a priori to hazardous-waste landfills and illegal dumping, excess mortality in both sexes from cancers of the liver, breast and bladder and from respiratory diseases (for bladder and respiratory diseases in women, with uncertain estimates). Hospital admissions for all causes are, by contrast, below expected.
Plants and fungi at this site
PhytoremediationField scale
Populus spp.
The University of Naples Federico II's LIFE11 ENV/IT/000275 ECOREMED project (coordinator M. Fagnano) planted the area with poplars, with added organic matter and mycorrhizae, under an assisted-phytoremediation protocol designed for Campania's contaminated farmland. The press speaks of «very good results», but the sources consulted give no measurements.
- LIFE ECOREMED – Implementation of eco-compatible protocols for agricultural soil remediation in Litorale Domizio-Agro Aversano NIPS (LIFE11 ENV/IT/000275), European Commission LIFE Public Database, webgate.ec.europa.eu, 2017
- Fagnano, Visconti, Fiorentino, Agronomic approaches for characterization, remediation, and monitoring of contaminated sites, Agronomy, 2020
- Un bosco di pioppi nella Terra dei fuochi, Avvenire, avvenire.it, 2017
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
- Cucurbita pepoZucchini, pumpkinPolychlorinated biphenylsDioxins and furansEvidence: field
- Eichhornia crassipesWater hyacinthEvidence: field
- Medicago sativaAlfalfa, lucernePolychlorinated biphenylsPetroleum hydrocarbonsEvidence: field
- Paulownia tomentosaPrincess tree, empress treePetroleum hydrocarbonsEvidence: field
- Populus × generosaHybrid poplar (P. trichocarpa × P. deltoides)Chlorinated solvents (TCE, PCE, chloroform)Polychlorinated biphenylsEvidence: field
- Pteris vittataChinese brake fernEvidence: field
Fungi
- Funneliformis mosseaeEvidence: greenhouse
- Pisolithus albusEvidence: greenhouse
- Rhizophagus irregularisEvidence: greenhouse
- Aspergillus nigerBlack mouldEvidence: laboratory
- Fomitopsis pinicolaRed-belted conkEvidence: laboratory
- Mucor circinelloidesEvidence: laboratory
The rest are on the contaminant pages.
Nearby
SIN, Giugliano in Campania (Napoli), Campania
Giugliano wider area (Area vasta di Giugliano)
6 km
- Mixed waste
Former SIN, Napoli (quartiere Pianura), Pozzuoli, Campania
Pianura (Naples)
17 km
- Mixed waste
SIN, Napoli, Campania
Bagnoli-Coroglio (Naples)
22 km
- Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
- Petroleum hydrocarbons
- Polychlorinated biphenyls
Phytoremediation
SIN, Campania
Naples East (Napoli Orientale)
24 km
- Petroleum hydrocarbons
- Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
- Polychlorinated biphenyls
- Chlorinated solvents (TCE, PCE, chloroform)
Sources
- Riferimenti normativi per i Siti di bonifica di Interesse Nazionale (agg. 31 dicembre 2025), ISPRA, 2025
- SENTIERI. Sesto Rapporto - Litorale Domizio Flegreo ed Agro Aversano (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.