Atlas of Contaminated Sites

Site of National Interest (SIN), Milazzo, San Filippo del Mela, Pace del Mela, San Pier Niceto, Monforte San Giorgio (Messina), Sicilia, Italy

Milazzo

The Giammoro industrial area on Sicily's Tyrrhenian coast, active since the 1960s: a refinery, two thermal power stations, a steelworks, a former asbestos-products factory and landfills. Soils hold dioxins and asbestos, groundwater holds hydrocarbons and metals.

Status
Under assessment
Area
550 ha on land, 1,000 ha in water1
Activity
since 1961
Media
soil, groundwater, sediment
Kind of site
oil, power plant, steel, asbestos, landfill, illegal dumping, port
  1. Area. MASE fact sheet (2021): 550 hectares on land and about 1,000 at sea. SENTIERI (2023) gives 549 hectares on land and 2,198 at sea. The perimeter was redrawn by decree of 29 July 2025; the new area has not been verified.

Contaminants

Metals

Metalloids

Organic compounds

Fibres

Other inorganics

Status

Under assessment

A new Programme Agreement for containment and remediation was signed on 9 February 2021 by the Ministry, the Sicilian Region, the Metropolitan City of Messina and the five municipalities. No up-to-date official percentage of characterised or remediated area was found.

Story

The site coincides with the Giammoro industrial development area and spans five municipalities in the province of Messina. Since the 1960s it has hosted the Milazzo Refinery, two power stations (formerly Enel, later Edipower, and Termica Milazzo), a steelworks (Duferco), oil depots and industrial waste landfills. Asbestos processing at the former Sacelit plant has ceased.

According to the Ministry's fact sheet, soil contamination comes mainly from dioxin produced by burning waste in illegal or abandoned dumps and from large amounts of asbestos-containing material (offcuts, sheets, sludge). In groundwater, hydrocarbons and metals exceed legal limits. The perimeter includes the beach, the sea between the industrial port and the mouth of the Santo river, and the lower reaches of the Corriolo, Muto, Mela and Niceto streams.

The area became a SIN under law 266/2005 and its perimeter was set in 2006. A new Programme Agreement for containment and remediation was signed in 2021.

Timeline

  1. 1961First industrial activity (the refinery) begins.
  2. 2005Law 266/2005 adds the Milazzo industrial area to the SINs.
  3. 2006The decree of 11 August 2006 sets the perimeter.
  4. 2021New Programme Agreement for containment and remediation signed.
  5. 2025Perimeter redrawn by decree of 29 July 2025.

Health

SENTIERI, Sixth Report (2023; mortality 2013-2017, hospital admissions 2014-2018, regional reference): mortality from all malignant tumours and from digestive diseases below expected in both sexes; in women, excess mortality from circulatory diseases. Among causes linked a priori to the site's exposures, excess mortality from bladder cancer in both sexes (uncertain estimate in women) and, in men, from asbestosis and, with an uncertain estimate, mesothelioma.

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

SIN, Biancavilla (Catania), Sicilia

Biancavilla

72 km

  • Fluoro-edenite

SIN, Augusta, Priolo Gargallo, Melilli, Siracusa, Sicilia

Priolo (Augusta–Priolo–Melilli)

115 km

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

SIN, Gela (Caltanissetta), Sicilia

Gela

155 km

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

SIN, Crotone; Cassano allo Ionio e Cerchiara di Calabria (Cosenza), Calabria

Crotone - Cassano - Cerchiara

188 km

  • Zinc
  • Lead
  • Cadmium
  • Arsenic

Sources

  1. Scheda SIN Milazzo (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 - Milazzo (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.