Environmental battles in defence of the Marano lagoon
A research project
The establishment of the SNIA Viscosa – SAICI industrial complex in Torviscosa caused environmental problems right from the start (1938) in the Marano lagoon, where discharges from industrial production ended. It was the fishermen of Marano who were the first to protest about the damage to fish fauna and fishing valleys. In 1950, SAICI’s chlorine soda plant with mercury cells went into production. During its 58 years of activity, this plant discharged about 200,000 kg of mercury into public waters and from there into the Marano lagoon. In 1962, the environmental situation was further complicated by spills from the caprolactam plant containing various types of solvents.
The first purification plant was only built at the end of the 1980s and it was not until the 1990s that the lagoon’s great naturalistic value was formally recognised at a local (two regional nature reserves) and European level (Special Area of Conservation for the protection of habitats and animal and plant species of European significance, Special Protection Area for the protection of wild bird species and their habitats, Natura 2000 Network).
In the meantime, the industrial pollution of the lagoon has continued almost undisturbed, and it is mainly to the citizens’ initiative that we owe the main protest initiatives, which have even gone as far as legal action. While the actions of citizens, committees, individual municipalities and environmental associations are of great historical-ethnographic interest, the unsystematic nature of these actions prevents an easy reconstruction of events.
The first objective of the project is therefore to identify, collect and systematise the documents that bear witness to the environmental battles in defence of the lagoon and to present the various events in a synthesis. The method adopted for this phase follows that of the Industria e ambiente project promoted by the Luigi Micheletti Foundation, which is one of our partners.
The second objective is to enable citizens to recognise the naturalistic importance of the lagoon area and the environmental risks that could compromise its delicate balance. The project therefore also includes guided tours of the area, conducted by specially trained tourist and nature guides who can illustrate the present in the light of the historical events of the past. The second of our partners, the Nord Est Guide, will take care of this activity.
The project is currently in progress, so the pages listed below are still being updated. Unfortunately, we are unable to provide English translations for the sources we identified.
