Italy, Trissino (Vicenza), Veneto, Italy

Miteni (formerly RIMAR), Trissino

A fluorochemical plant that for decades released PFAS into the groundwater north-west of Vicenza. The contamination, which came to light in 2013, reached the drinking water of 30 municipalities and about 150,000 people: it is Italy's largest case of PFAS pollution and one of the most studied in the world.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances

Status: Contained
Activity: 1965–2018
People affected: 150,000 (2013)²
Media: groundwater, surface water, soil
Kind of site: chemical works

Area. The size of the plant is not given in the sources consulted. The contaminated groundwater extends over about 200 km² across the provinces of Vicenza, Verona and Padua (Bertanza et al. 2020).
People affected. About 150,000 residents of the 30 red-zone municipalities, supplied by waterworks fed from the contaminated aquifer (Biggeri et al. 2024).

Contaminants

Organic compounds

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances

Status

Contained

The plant has been idle since its bankruptcy on 9 November 2018; the equipment was dismantled and sold to an Indian company and a hydraulic barrier with pumping wells operates on the site (Wikipedia, 2026). Drinking water in the area has been filtered on activated carbon since 2013. The state of soil remediation is not documented in the sources consulted.

Story

The plant was set up at Trissino in 1965 as RiMAr (Ricerche Marzotto), founded by Giannino Marzotto. In 1988 it passed to EniChem and Mitsubishi and in 1992 it took the name Miteni; from 1996 it belonged to Mitsubishi alone and from 2009 to the ICIG group. It made perfluoroalkyl substances and other fluorinated intermediates. As early as 1977 a pollution case had stopped the plant for 14 months.

In 2011 the CNR-IRSA researchers Stefano Polesello and Sara Valsecchi measured PFAS concentrations in local waters higher than any recorded before. In spring 2013 the groundwater contamination became public and in September ARPAV named the plant as the source. The waterworks drawing on the polluted aquifer supplied 30 municipalities in the provinces of Vicenza, Verona and Padua, the "red zone"; exposure through drinking water lasted until autumn 2013, when activated-carbon filters came into service.

The Veneto Region started a health surveillance plan that measures 12 PFAS in residents' serum. Miteni went bankrupt on 9 November 2018. On 26 June 2025 the Vicenza Court of Assizes sentenced 11 former managers to a total of 141 years in prison, acquitting 4, and awarded about 75 million euros in damages to more than 300 civil parties, 58 million of it to the Ministry of the Environment.

Timeline

1965Giannino Marzotto founds RiMAr (Ricerche Marzotto) at Trissino.
1992Under EniChem and Mitsubishi the company takes the name Miteni.
2009The ICIG group takes over the plant.
2013The groundwater contamination becomes public; in September ARPAV names Miteni as the source. Activated-carbon filters are fitted to the waterworks.
20189 November: Miteni goes bankrupt.
2024The 1980–2018 mortality study of the red zone is published (Biggeri et al.).
202526 June: the Vicenza Court of Assizes convicts 11 former managers.

Health

Regional health surveillance: in 18,345 residents aged 14–39 the median serum PFOA was 44.4 ng/mL (interquartile range 19.3–84.9) (Pitter et al. 2020). In 232 former plant workers the median PFOA was 80.8 ng/mL, with a maximum of 13,033 (Batzella et al. 2022). In the red zone, between 1985 and 2018, there were 51,621 deaths against 47,731 expected (SMR 108; 90% CI 107–109), with higher mortality from cardiovascular disease and from kidney and testicular cancer (Biggeri et al. 2024). In people followed over time, serum PFOA fell by 62% in about four years, and the fall in PFAS went with a fall in lipids (Batzella et al. 2024).

Remediation

2013drinking-water treatment (granular activated carbon)Granular activated carbon filters on the waterworks; the main plant in the area treats 30,000 m³ a day for 100,000 people.
—hydraulic barrierHydraulic barrier with pumping wells on the plant site.