Site of National Interest

The Sites of National Interest, or SIN, are very large contaminated areas, classified the most dangerous by the Italian State and in need of remediation of soil, underground and/or surface water and groundwater, to avoid damage to the environment and health.

The SIN were defined by Legislative Decree 22/97 (Ronchi Decree) and the Ministerial Decree 471/99 and incorporated by Decree 152/2006, which stipulates that they can be identified in relation to the characteristics of the site, of the quantity and hazard of pollutants, the importance of the impact on the surrounding environment, in terms of health and ecology, as well as injury to the cultural and environmental heritage.

So far, the SINs identified by the Ministry of Environment are 57 (28 of them affecting the coastal zone) throughout Italy.

The SINs are areas where, as a result of human activities, it was detected an alteration of the qualitative characteristics of soils, surface water and groundwater, and in particular include:

• brownfield sites;
industrial areas in the process of conversion;
• active industrial areas;
• sites affected by production activities and mining of asbestos;
• ports;
• areas that have been the subject of accidents with the release of chemical pollutants;
• former mines, quarries and landfills not complying with the law, illegal dumps.

The Site of National Interest of Venice has been defined in the Parliament Law No. 426/1998 "New interventions in the environmental field" art. 1, paragraph 4, as first in the list of those sites.

With the aim to simplifying the administrative procedures, on 24 April 2013 the perimeters of the Site of National Interest of Venice were redefined by the Ministry of Environment, excluding urban areas.