A satellite image of the area of Ausìgusta, Melilli, and Priolo Gargallo, where the petrochemical plant of Siracusa is found. This part of Sicily has seen a drastic change towards the end of the 1940s, when the first industrial complex was founded, Rasiom, by Angelo Moratti. This event signed the transformation of a vast area from being based on a agricultural and fishing economy, to indistrial.
In this area, important archaeological sites are also found dating back to the Bronze Age, such as the Thapsos necropolis (in the Magnisi peninsula), and the ancient Greece colony of Megara Hyblea (VIII century B.C.). These sites have hardly found a balance with the invasiveness of the industrial plants.
This is how we walked on the moon is an ongoing documentary project about the social, economic and health consequences of the industrial activity of the petrochemical plant of Siracusa. The work focuses on several aspects of this industrial phenomenon, from its history to present days, trying to bring to light both its macro and micro elements: The economic dimension of petrochemical plant which went from being one of the biggest in Europe during the 1950s and 1960s to a decadent complex forced to sell industries to foreign companies and marked by increasing unemployment; the repercussions on the health and life of nearby populations who, over 70 years of industrial illicit activities, have been exposed to toxic substances and who are now victims of cancer and malformations at birth. Finally, the project reflects on the persisting element of inexplicable and mystery that characterizes much of the petrochemical plant’s history and present: How did such a colossal entrepreneurial effort fall from a state of excitement, hope and renaissance to one of utter decadence, corruption and mortality?
Eileen Quinn (1989) is an Italian-Irish PhD candidate in Human Rights at the University of Palermo and freelance journalist. Eileen came back to Palermo in 2014, after studying for a BA in human sciences at the University of Oxford and a MSc in public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, to conduct doctoral research on migrant smuggling from Africa to Europe. She has been conducting qualitative studies between the south of Tunisia and Sicily since 2015. As a freelance journalist Eileen has published for Al Jazeera English, the Financial Times, and il Venerdì di Repubblica among others.
Valentino Bellini (1984) is a documentary photographer born and based in Palermo, Italy. He graduated at CFP R.Bauer of Milan in 2010.
His work has been featured on L'Espresso, The Guardian, The Washington Post, and Al Jazeera among others. In 2015 and 2016 he was nominated for the World Press photo Joop Swart Masterclass. In 2017 was shortilisted for the Getty Images Instagram Grant. Valentino is co-founder of Minimum a lab and space for photography in Palermo, Sicily.
Illustrations : Ben
HOME
The statue of The Redeemer, inaugurated in April 2013, welcoming drivers entering the town of Priolo Gargallo.
Some of Augusta's areas are today fairly isolated, and the urban landscape seems to reflect the dissatisfaction of its human society.
The entrance of the Manhattan Bowling in the town of Melilli. Lo sviluppo industriale ha rubato il passato di un luogo rigoglioso e lo ha restituito sotto forma di un sogno fatto di petrolio e plastica.
A view of the ICAM power station. The original photograph was taken on 20 May 1985, the day after a serious accident which caused the explosion of various machines and the release into the atmosphere of toxic substances.
Over the years, a long series of accidents occurred in many of the plants of the petrochemical area.
A video from the newsreel “La Settimana Incom”, episode 2487 of 26 June 1964 on the industrialization of Sicily. The episode shows original images from the first years of the industrial development in the area of the petrochemical plant in Siracusa.
An article in the VITA magazine about the construction of the Celene plant . The Celene plant was built in 1957 by the Edison group together with the Unione Carbide Corporation. Using substances coming from the nearby SINCAT plant (also owned by Edison), the Celene plant produced polyethylene and derivatives.
A book containing the internal regulations for workers of SINCAT. Although the book includes a chapter regarding the safety measures to adopt in the workplace and the duties of workers, those who used to work in those plants told us how safety measures were extremely limited for both them and the environment.
Giuseppe Egidio Salerno, 43, prosthodontist from Augusta. His grandfather began working for the industrial sector in his forties until his retirement twenty-five years later. After about ten years he was diagnosed with lung cancer, and died within two months in 2005. Giuseppe Egidio says: “I followed his pain since the beginning. I saw a strong person become defenseless in a short period of time, he couldn’t even stand up and was extremely thin. It was a death with little dignity”. When asked whether the industries do something to help and improve the situation he replies: “They do absolutely nothing. My grandfather always told me how they were in contact with toxic powders all the time at work, but the only protection they were given was a handkerchief to cover their mouth”.
Dr Mara Nicotra, researcher in ecology and marine biology, in her family home in Melilli. Dr Nicotra has carried specific studies to quantify the levels of pollution in the water of the harbor of Augusta in 2003, commissioned by the municipality of Melilli. The study found considerably high levels of mercury, arsenic and polycyclic hydrocarbons in the harbor of Augusta, confirming the role of nearby plants in polluting the local marine environment.
Padre Palmiro Prisutto fotografa il campo sportivo di Augusta.
Il campo sportivo di Augusta è stato dichiarato inagibile più di dieci anni fa a seguito di analisi del Ministero dell'Ambiente che scoprì che al di sotto dello stesso era presente un deposito di ceneri di pirite derivanti dalle lavorazioni del polo industriale.
Le ceneri di pirite sono molto pericolose per la salute umana in quanto sostanze corrosive e cancerogene.
Giusy Chiaramonte, 45, from Priolo Gargallo. Few years ago she moved to Città Giardino with her husband and children to get away from the pollution caused by the Isab North and Isab South plants, owned by the Lukoil company, and confiscated by the prosecutor’s office of Siracusa in July 2017. Giusy was born with spina bifida, a congenital malformation of the bone marrow. Three years ago she was diagnosed with meningioma. “I cannot let the industries kill me anymore”, she says, “I must do something for my land and for the future of my children”.
Pippo Giaquinta, president of the environmental association Legambiente in Priolo, portrayed in his home in Città Giardino. Pippo has been conducting a long battle to raise awareness against the pollution derived from industrial exploitation of the area surrounding the petrochemical plant of Siracusa.
Dr Mara Nicotra, researcher in ecology and marine biology, in her family home in Melilli. Dr Nicotra has carried specific studies to quantify the levels of pollution in the water of the harbor of Augusta in 2003, commissioned by the municipality of Melilli. The study found considerably high levels of mercury, arsenic and polycyclic hydrocarbons in the harbor of Augusta, confirming the role of nearby plants in polluting the local marine environment.
A gas station in Augusta, run by the Russian company Lukoil. In recent years, foreign oil corporations like Lukoil are increasingly buying the industries of the petrochemical plant of Siracusa which have seen a drastic economic fall since the 1990s.
Today also these big foreign companies are gradually abandoning the area, leaving behind a new wave of unemployment and fear for the future.
A flock of sheep advances inside an old canal within the petrochemical area. The risk of contamination by industry in the area is also to be found within the subsoil and could also extend to pastures.
Citizens and relatives of victims of diseases related to the pollution produced in the petrochemical area protesting during a demonstration held in Augusta on 28 April 2016.
The pocket calendar given as a gift to workers of the SINCAT industry (Industrial Society of Catania). SINCAT, owned by the Edison group, started working in the area of Priolo Gargallo towards the end of the 1950s. It counted more than 3000 workers already in 1961.
It began with the production of fertilizers and gradually expanded its activities in the petrochemical sector. In those years, it was the main chemical and petrochemical group of the Mediterranean.
Enrico Mattei, center, is pictured in Gagliano Castelferrato (Italy) in occasion of a public speech where he addressed the coming industrial revolution in Sicily due to the discovery of natural gas deposits in the region.
That was Mattei's last speech. He died that day when his plane crashed on the way to Milan.
A photograph taken in the 1960’s. Here, a group of workers of the Rasiom group is portrayed in a moment of break.