SOLVAYLAND is a long-term project that explores a unique and complex territory where history, industry, society, and nature are deeply intertwined. In 1913, the Belgian industrialist Ernest Solvay identified a stretch of the Tuscan coast near Rosignano Marittimo (central Italy) as a land rich in natural resources and decided to build a chemical plant for soda production. This decision profoundly transformed the identity of the area, shaping its landscapes, communities, and ways of life. The documented area includes the Livorno coastline, home to the main Rosignano Solvay plant, and extends to Saline di Volterra, crossing hills and Mediterranean scrub in the Cecina Valley, in the heart of ancient Etruria. Here, traces of millennia of history coexist with landscapes of extraordinary beauty and deep social and environmental transformations generated by industrialisation.

The Solvay plant in Rosignano has long been at the centre of debate: for some, it represents a threat to the environment and public health; for others, it has brought economic and social development, giving rise to an entire town. Environmental data remain critical. A UNEP report from the early 2000s listed the coastline among the 15 most polluted sites in the Mediterranean. The European E-PRTR (European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register) in 2019 reported discharges into the sea of arsenic, cadmium, chromium, mercury, nickel, lead, zinc, and dichloroethane. Studies by CNR Pisa estimate that hundreds of tonnes of heavy metals have been released into the sea over time.

Between 2021 and 2023, PRTR (Pollutant Release and Transfer Register) data show a reduction in heavy metal loads, decreasing from approximately 28.8 to 20.4 tonnes, thanks to the full operation of filtration and wastewater treatment systems (SALT plant) in compliance with the 2022 Integrated Environmental Authorisation (AIA). However, ARPAT reports from 2024–2025 confirm the persistent critical condition of the “Costa di Rosignano” water body, classified as having “poor” chemical status and showing numerous exceedances of Environmental Quality Standards (EQS). Sediment analyses highlight the continued presence of historical contaminants such as mercury and hexachlorobenzene (HCB), linked to the resuspension of long-accumulated deposits, with effects on the marine food chain and the regression of Posidonia oceanica seagrass meadows. A clear gap also remains between the bacteriological quality of the water, on which the Blue Flag certification is based, and the presence of chemical contaminants in the sediments.

In 2022, the London-based activist fund Bluebell Capital Partners filed an appeal to the Tuscany Regional Administrative Court (TAR), challenging the Integrated Environmental Authorisation (AIA) issued by the Italian Ministry for Ecological Transition, particularly regarding industrial discharges into the sea at Rosignano. Following the dispute, Solvay entered into dialogue with Bluebell, and in November 2022 an agreement was announced: the company committed to reducing solid residues discharged into the sea by 20% by 2030 and by 40% by 2040. By 2023, Solvay reported having already achieved a 20% reduction against authorised limits and launched circular economy projects to reuse limestone residues in construction and agriculture.

Despite these commitments, independent studies show that until 2021 the plant was still releasing around 20 tonnes of mercury and other heavy metals annually into the sea, confirming this stretch of coastline as one of the most compromised in the Mediterranean.

These discharges have shaped a paradoxical landscape: white beaches and turquoise waters whose visual identity is partly the result of industrial residues, while the inland areas bear the marks of intensive resource extraction such as rock salt, freshwater, and limestone.

Over more than a century, this territory has experienced surreal contrasts, new social geographies, and evolving ways of inhabiting space. SOLVAYLAND documents this complexity through images that interrogate environmental damage, collective memory, and the paradoxes of a landscape at a time when the Mediterranean remains central to the challenges of ecological transition and the search for a balance between progress and sustainability.

Today, while Solvay continues to pursue its sustainability commitments, the territory still reflects the tensions between industry, nature, and local communities, making these challenges as urgent as ever.