Italian coasts increasingly in the grip of illegal cement: in one year crime has risen by more than 11%.
The data preview of the 2024 'Mare Monstrum' dossier on the illegal cement cycle
by Andrea Carli
3' min read
Key points
3' min read
Between unauthorised building, illegal quarry management and state-owned concessions, the Italian coasts are increasingly caught in the grip of illegal cement. This is what Legambiente highlighted, which, on the occasion of the launch of the "Goletta Verde" and "Goletta dei Laghi" 2024 campaigns, presented a preview of the data of the dossier "Mare Monstrum" 2024 dedicated to the illegal cement cycle.
Here they are. In 2023, 10,257 offences (+11.1% compared to 2022) were ascertained by the police and port authorities in the coastal regions, with 11,647 people reported (+21.2%), 1,614 criminal seizures (+17.3%) and 14 pre-trial detention orders. Administrative offences also increased, 15,062 (+11.7% compared to 2022) and related penalties (34,121, +20.9%).
South in the front row
.Southern Italy is the main victim of illegal bricks and mortar: leading the regional classification is Campania with 1,531 offences (14.9% of the national total), also first in terms of the number of persons reported (1,710) and penalties (4,302). Puglia came second (1,442 offences, 14.1% of the national total), Sicily third (1,180 offences, 11.5%) and Calabria fourth (1,046 offences, 10.2% of the total). But the threat of illegal building does not even spare central and northern Italy: in fifth place is Tuscany with 794 offences (7.7% of the national total), followed by Veneto with 705 offences (6.9%) and Lazio with 617 offences (6%).
The scourge of illegal building
.The illegal cycle of cement is a scourge that is difficult to heal, or in this case to 'knock down', especially along the coasts - as explained by the Green Swan's civic monitoring 'Knock down the abuse' 2023 - where building abuse subject to demolition orders is more than six times more widespread than inland. In particular, between 2004 and 2022, the average number of demolition orders in the coastal municipalities of Lazio, Campania, Puglia, Calabria and Sicily, the five regions most affected by the phenomenon, is 64.1 orders per municipality, against the average of 10.7 orders for inland municipalities.
The demands of Legambiente
.Legambiente is once again asking the government for immediate answers, such as the recognition of full power to the Prefects to demolish buildings that are not demolished by the municipalities, and the cancellation in the 'Save House' decree of the so-called 'silence-consent', which would open the way to new abuses, given that no municipality will ever be able to examine an amnesty application within the 45-day deadline.
