Toxicily

Every year thousands of tourists visit Syracuse to admire the architecture of the Greek theater and the vestiges of Western culture. Several kms to the north, the coastal area between Archimede and Augusta is the location of one of Europe’s major oil refineries. Since 1949, when the refinery went into operation, an environmental disaster has been in the making. Complex infrastructure, smoking chimneys, abandoned villages, arid soi, and polluted beaches show the other side of Sicily, toxic Sicily, left to its post-industrial fate. The film depicts an area sacrificed to progress. Don Palmiro reads a list of the deceased, the voices rise of those fighting against the resignation of the local population and the indifference of government administrations.