‘Terra dei Fuochi’: meeting held at Palazzo Chigi

The steering committee for the work to combat illegal waste disposal and to clean-up and redevelop the polluted areas in the 'Terra dei Fuochi' ['Land of Fires'] met for the eighth time at Palazzo Chigi this morning.
The meeting, coordinated by Undersecretary of State to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers Alfredo Mantovano, was attended by: the Deputy Minister of the Environment and Energy Security, Vannia Gava; the Deputy Minister of Justice, Francesco Paolo Sisto; Undersecretary of State to the Ministry of Economy and Finance, Lucia Albano; the Head of the Civil Protection Department, Fabio Ciciliano; the Chief of Police, Vittorio Pisani; the Prefect of Naples, Michele di Bari; the Prefect of Caserta, Lucia Volpe; the Special Government Commissioner for clean-up operations, Giuseppe Vadalà; and representatives from the Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security, the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Health, the Carabinieri Corps, the Guardia di Finanza [Italian Finance Police], AGEA [Italian Agricultural Payments Agency] and ISPRA [Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research].

First of all, the meeting reviewed the important overall results achieved in 2025 by joint operations and by both local and metropolitan police forces, with particular reference to inspection activities and efforts to combat illegal waste dumping as well as environmental monitoring and the presence of public security forces.

The figures show a radical reversal of past trends. In 2025, checks were carried out on 1,080 economic activities, 509 of which were subjected to seizure or prohibition orders. Inspections were carried out on 42,028 vehicles, with 1,077 confiscated. 1,052 individuals were reported and 30 arrested. Administrative fines totalling more than EUR 9 million were also imposed.

The additional measures provided for by decree-law no. 116/2025 were also defined, which will involve all the relevant ministries and administrations in a coordinated way, with the goal of further boosting the State's and local authorities' ability to tackle illegal waste disposal.

Among other things, this action plan includes: identification of sites and surveillance; support for police forces; collaboration with AGEA in order to map the sites for waste recovery and subsequent clean-up operations; a census of local collection centres where special waste can be disposed of; a strengthening of screening programmes, with more diagnostic-treatment-care pathways for oncological diseases. This is also in view of the discussions with the European Court of Human Rights, already scheduled for March, following the ECHR's ruling last year.

However, aside from its dialogue with the ECHR, which took an interest in the situation based on the circumstances a number of years ago, the 'Terra dei Fuochi' is a strategic objective for the Government, which will continue working through coordinated action based on the planning of clean-up operations, a strengthening of the criminal law framework and a central, operational steering committee that will continue to meet regularly at Palazzo Chigi or, as has already been the case several times, in the affected area.