It all started on the SS 613, the main road that connects Brindisi to Lecce, in Puglia, crossing the industrial area of ​​Brindisi. In this area are concentrated the thermoelectric power plant Federico II, Sanofi Aventis, EDIpower, the ENI petrochemical industry, the sugar refinery SFIR, not to mention the presence of the airport and port, as well as an indefinite number of abandoned or impounded factories. But also near the SS 613 passes the longest European conveyor belt (about 13km), a conduit that can transport from the port of Brindisi to the power plant of Cerano some 2,000 tons of coal per hour. Losses during the transfer on the conveyor belt and the burning of fossil within the power plant cause pollution that also thanks to the winds involves three provinces, causing immeasurable damage to health. The consequence of the presence of the conveyor belt does not stop there however. The cooling of the equipment occurs by means of seawater subsequently refluxed at sea at elevated temperatures. The realization of an underground channel for most of the route has not only caused the drying up of the groundwater table with all the consequences it caused especially the pollution of the water making the water non-drinkable for the local people. The inhabitants of the surrounding areas of the power plant in Cerano are forced to travel every day to Tuturano, about 5km away, to fetch water for domestic use and food. Not to mention the ban on cultivation since 2007 in an area of ​​over 16,000 square meters adjacent to the power plant Federico II or that of 2011, which banned the access to the protected Micorosa (over 20 hectares), where tons of industrial waste were found. And still in Brindisi the incidence of birth defects, which is 18% above the European average, with over 68% more with regard to cardiovascular disease. Malformations which scientific studies have put in relation to the presence of sulphur dioxide in the air produced by the combustion of oil and coal. Finally, Lecce has paradoxically a rate of mortality higher than Taranto caused by pollution, due to winds that converge both the discharges of ILVA as much as those of the power plant in Cerano on the city.
It all started on the SS 613, but it is just the beginning of a sad journey to the evils of the environment in Italy.