Site of National Interest (SIN), Piombino (Livorno), Toscana, Italy
Piombino
A coastal steelworks (formerly Lucchini) active since the early 1900s, with a thermal power station, the port, land reclaimed with fill and industrial landfills. Widespread, marked contamination of soil and groundwater by metals, PAHs and hydrocarbons; marine sediments are contaminated too.
At a glance
- Status
- Under assessment
- Area
- 931 ha on land, 2,117 ha in water1
- Activity
- since 1911
- Media
- soil, groundwater, sediment, surface water
- Kind of site
- steel, power plant, port, landfill, chemical works
- Area. About 931 hectares of industrial area (MASE fact sheet, 2021); the sea area extends about 3 km offshore and SENTIERI (2023) puts it at 2,117 hectares.
Contaminants
Status
Under assessment
The perimetered area, public and private, is fully characterised (MASE fact sheet, 2021). Several programme agreements for remediation and infrastructure are in force, including the 2008 one worth 204.3 million euro. No up-to-date official percentage of remediated area was found.
Story
For a century steelmaking was the mainstay of Piombino's economy. The perimeter, north-east of the town, takes in the large industrial complex, the sea in front, areas reclaimed with fill material and landfills of mostly industrial waste.
Surveys, especially in the former Lucchini works, found high levels of metals, PAHs and heavy hydrocarbons in soil; in groundwater, metals, PAHs, chlorinated aliphatics, organohalogens, hydrocarbons and PCBs. Marine sediments in front of the works hold the pollutants typical of steelmaking.
In December 2012 Lucchini went into special administration and in 2013 Piombino was recognised as a «complex industrial crisis area»; since then the Government, the Region and local authorities have jointly pursued the environmental and industrial redevelopment of the complex.
Timeline
- 1911Industrial activity begins, according to the SENTIERI documentation.
- 1998Law 426/1998 names Piombino a site of national interest.
- 2000Perimeter set by decree of 10 January 2000.
- 2006Perimeter enlarged (decree of 7 April 2006).
- 2007Programme agreements for remediation of the site and of the coastal marine areas.
- 2012Lucchini S.p.A. enters special administration.
- 2013Piombino is recognised as a complex industrial crisis area.
Health
SENTIERI, Sixth Report (2023; mortality 2013-2017, hospital admissions 2014-2018, regional reference): all-cause mortality above expected in both sexes. Among causes linked a priori to the site's exposures: excess mortality from bladder cancer in both sexes; from lung cancer and pleural mesothelioma in men; from colorectal cancer in women. Excess hospital admissions for all malignant tumours in both sexes. The authors note poor quality in the coding of causes of death.
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
- Eichhornia crassipesWater hyacinthEvidence: field
- Medicago sativaAlfalfa, lucernePolychlorinated biphenylsPetroleum hydrocarbonsPolycyclic aromatic hydrocarbonsEvidence: field
- Agrostis capillarisCommon bentEvidence: field
- Arabidopsis halleriHaller's rockcressEvidence: field
- Cannabis sativaIndustrial hempEvidence: field
- Festuca rubraRed fescueEvidence: field
Fungi
- Funneliformis mosseaePolycyclic aromatic hydrocarbonsEvidence: greenhouse
- Rhizophagus irregularisEvidence: greenhouse
- Paxillus involutusBrown roll-rimEvidence: greenhouse
- Pisolithus albusEvidence: greenhouse
- Aspergillus nigerBlack mouldEvidence: laboratory
- Agaricus bisporusButton mushroomPolycyclic aromatic hydrocarbonsEvidence: laboratory
The rest are on the contaminant pages.
Nearby
Trial, Toscana
Scarlino, ceneri di arsenopirite (ex Nuova Solmine)
21 km
Phytoremediation
Trial, Toscana
Murlo, suoli serpentinitici
73 km
Phytoremediation
SIN, Livorno, Collesalvetti, Toscana
Livorno
73 km
- Petroleum hydrocarbons
- BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylenes)
- MTBE
- Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
Phytoremediation
SIN, Orbetello, Monte Argentario (Grosseto), Toscana
Orbetello - former Sitoco area
79 km
Sources
- Scheda SIN Piombino (copia d'archivio), MASE, 2021
- Riferimenti normativi per i Siti di bonifica di Interesse Nazionale (agg. 31 dicembre 2025), ISPRA, 2025
- SENTIERI. Sesto Rapporto - Piombino (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.