Piombino, down the chimneys: a 100 million tourist village arrives

It changes the skyline of Piombino, the Tuscan town that has been waiting for years for the relaunch of its main activity, the steel industry, and meanwhile dreams (and plans) a future in tourism. On 29 October, the two almost two-metre-high (195 centimetres), red-and-white-striped cement chimneys of the former Enel power station at Tor del Sale, which had towered over the gulf for almost 50 years, were demolished. The oil-fired power station, which ceased production in 2012 and was decommissioned in 2015, has been sold by Enel (a preliminary contract has been drawn up for now) to a company belonging to the Gb Invest group of Pistoia entrepreneurs Stefano and Lorenzo Nesti, who are investing in luxury hotels (Grand Hotel Principe di Piemonte and Hotel Excelsior in Viareggio, Maitò Art Hotel in Forte dei Marmi, the former San Gallo military hospital in Florence) and real estate. The demolition of the power station, paid for by the Nesti family, began in November 2021 and will be completed in five to six months, in parallel with the reclamation of the area by Enel.

In place of the power station, a green, high-end tourist village will be built: it will be a diffuse complex, with a low environmental and landscape impact, the promoters assure, consisting of mobile homes, sports areas, and a conference area to try to extend the tourist season. The planned investment is around 100 million euro. After all,' they explain, 'the fact of having a 45-hectare area at one's disposal, bordering on a WWF regional nature reserve, allows (and requires) a minimally invasive and high-quality intervention. The feasibility study was carried out by Marco Casamonti's Florentine company Archea, but the actual project has not yet been assigned, also because the definition of heights and volumes is 'hanging' on the operational plan of the municipality of Piombino, which will be ready in about 12 months. For now, the municipal structural plan has been approved, which has provided for the change of use of the area from industrial to tourist-receptive.

The construction sites will therefore start in 2026 and will be managed by Tor del Sale spa, 100% owned by Stefano and Lorenzo Nesti's Gb Invest. The final contract between Enel and the investors is conditional on the Ministry of the Environment's approval of the reclamation: at the moment, the area is still defined as Sin, site of national interest, contaminated and dangerous, a qualification that will lapse when the reclamation work is completed.