Sassuolo-Scandiano ceramic district

The Sassuolo and Scandiano ceramic district is an industrial system of international importance, with the earliest activity dated to 1920. Waste from the tile production cycle was dumped at several points across the area; the SENTIERI documentation lists lead in soil and heavy and alkaline-earth metals, lead in particular, in subsoil and groundwater.

Ministerial decree 468/2001 listed the district as a Site of National Interest at the Region's proposal. Its annex describes 19 sites in nine municipalities of the provinces of Modena and Reggio Emilia, on the alluvial fans and plain of the Secchia and Panaro basins: highly permeable gravel and sand, a shallow water table almost at the surface and the regional aquifer at about 30 m. Cleaning up all the sites was estimated at about 100 billion lire, 30 billion of it for the priority works and for making the others safe.

The perimeter was set by decree of 26 February 2003. The decree of 11 January 2013, which revised the criteria for national sites, removed it from the national list; the procedures passed to the Provinces and the Region administers the remaining ministerial funding.