Sites of national interest (SIN)

Sites of national interest, for the purpose of remediation, are identified in relation to the characteristics of the site, the quantities and hazardousness of pollutants present, the importance of the impact on the surrounding environment in terms of health and ecological risk, as well as damage to cultural and environmental assets. For these sites, the administrative competence on the remediation procedures lies with the Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security - MASE.

The Law no. 134/2012 made changes to the criteria for identifying SIN (Article 252 of Legislative Decree 152/06, as amended).
On the basis of these criteria, a survey of the 57 sites classified as being of national interest was carried out and, with the Ministerial Decree of 11 January 2013, the number of SIN was reduced to 39.
Administrative competence on sites that do not meet the new criteria has passed to the respective Regions.
Three additional sites were subsequently identified and the total number of SIN to date is 42

For some SIN, the perimeter includes both land and marine areas. The perimeter of SIN may change over time with increases or reductions in the areas involved on the basis of new information on potential and/or ascertained contamination of new areas or on the basis of a more accurate definition of the areas affected by potential sources of contamination.
The total land area of the SIN is just under 148,000 hectares, equivalent to 0.49% of the Italian territory. The total extension of marine areas is just over 76,000 hectares.

Related documents and links

• Riferimenti normativi per i Siti di Interesse Nazionale
• Procedura per le istruttorie del SNPA sui Siti di bonifica di Interesse Nazionale ex art. 242, comma 4 d.lgs. n. 152/06
• Contenuti minimi esiti monitoraggio acque di falda
• Portale bonifiche MASE

Last update: June 2025