SOLVAYLAND is a long-term project that explores a unique and complex territory where history, industry, society, and nature are deeply intertwined.

In 1913, Belgian industrialist Ernest Solvay identified a resource-rich stretch of the Tuscan coast near Rosignano Marittimo (central Italy) and decided to build a chemical plant for soda production. This decision would profoundly transform the identity of the area, shaping its landscapes, communities, and ways of life.

The documented area spans the Livorno coast, home to Solvay’s main Rosignano plant, and stretches inland to Saline di Volterra, crossing hills and Mediterranean scrub in the Val di Cecina, at the heart of ancient Etruria. Here, signs of a millennia-old history coexist with extraordinary landscapes and profound social and environmental transformations caused by industrialization.

For decades, the Solvay plant in Rosignano has been at the center of debates: for some, it represents a threat to the environment and public health; for others, it has provided economic and social development, giving rise to an entire town. Environmental data remain concerning. An early-2000s UNEP report listed this coastal stretch among the 15 most polluted sites in the Mediterranean. The 2019 European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (E-PRTR) reported discharges of arsenic, cadmium, chromium, mercury, nickel, lead, zinc, and dichloroethane. Studies by the National Research Council of Pisa estimate that hundreds of tons of heavy metals have been discharged into the sea over time.
In 2022, the activist fund Bluebell Capital Partners filed an appeal with the Regional Administrative Court of Tuscany (TAR), challenging the Integrated Environmental Authorization (AIA) granted by the Italian Ministry of Ecological Transition, particularly concerning industrial discharges into the Rosignano coastline. Following this dispute, Solvay entered into dialogue with Bluebell, and in November 2022, an agreement was announced: the company committed to reducing solid waste discharged into the sea by 20% by 2030 and 40% by 2040. By 2023, Solvay reported achieving the 20% reduction and launched circular economy projects to repurpose limestone residues for construction and agriculture.

Despite these commitments, significant environmental challenges remain: independent studies show that until 2021 the plant discharged around 20 tons of mercury annually, along with other heavy metals, confirming this coastal stretch as one of the most polluted sites in the Mediterranean.

These discharges have created a paradoxical landscape: dazzling white beaches and turquoise waters, whose beauty is the result of industrial residues, while the inland areas bear the marks of intensive resource exploitation, including salt, water, and limestone.
Over more than a century, this territory has experienced surreal contrasts, new social geographies, and unprecedented ways of inhabiting the land. SOLVAYLAND documents this complexity through images that explore environmental wounds, collective memory, and paradoxes of a territory where the Mediterranean remains at the center of ecological transition and the search for a balance between progress and sustainability.

Today, as Solvay continues to implement its sustainability goals, the area still reflects the tensions between industry, nature, and local communities, keeping these challenges as relevant as ever.