SIN
sito di interesse nazionale, site of national interest
A large polluted area whose clean-up is overseen by the Ministry of the Environment rather than the Region, such as Porto Marghera, Taranto or Bagnoli.
A SIN is a contaminated area so large, or so hazardous, that the law gives its clean-up to the Ministry of the Environment instead of the Region. Most are industrial and chemical hubs with the areas around them: Porto Marghera, Taranto, Bagnoli, Priolo, Brescia-Caffaro, Sesto San Giovanni, the Sacco river basin. Today there are about forty.
Inside the boundary of a SIN even digging, a new building or a change in land use must follow the rules of the clean-up: surveys of the ground and an opinion from the Ministry are usually needed before starting. Anyone buying a home should know this beforehand, and ask the municipality what it means for that area.
The boundaries are published by ISPRA in the MOSAICO database, together with the Regions' contaminated sites. The report says whether the address is inside a SIN or within one kilometre of the boundary.
Official source: mosaicositicontaminati.isprambiente.it
Check an address
Enter the address: the report summarises risks, local prices, population, services and transport, with the source for every figure.
For example: Via Dante 7, Milan.