Is Europe's largest steelworks finally on the verge of closure?

Ex-Ilva in Taranto Is Europe's largest steelworks finally on the verge of closure? As of: October 20, 2026 • 10:42 a.m

For a long time, Taranto lived off Italy's largest steelworks - and its environmental pollution. A verdict could be a turning point. As workers fight for their jobs, residents call for closure.

It's quiet on the streets of Tamburi. The district in the north of Taranto was once a classic working-class district. Thousands of families lived here, right next to the huge steelworks that was known for decades as Ilva. The proximity to the factory, once an advantage, is now the area's big problem.

Giuseppe Roberto was also born here, but moved away years ago. He worked at the Taranto steelworks for almost three decades. Today he wants the plant to be closed.

Roberto understands the employees who are currently fighting for their jobs. Taranto, he says, has been divided for decades: "It's always said: On the one side are those who demand health and safety - on the other are those who think about jobs. Both demands are legitimate."

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The steelworks was built in the 1960s and was long considered a symbol of hope. It was intended to create jobs and discourage people from leaving the region and emigrating to the north as guest workers.

“In the 70s and 80s everything seemed good at first,” remembers Roberto. At that time, Ilva and the numerous supplier companies provided work for tens of thousands of people. "But back then, people didn't yet know the effects of environmental pollution."

This changed over the years. Studies documented significant health problems in Taranto. In its 2019 ruling, the European Court of Human Rights referred, among other things, to studies that found a connection between exposure to pollutants from the steelworks and lung and pleural cancer as well as cardiovascular diseases.

Another study linked industrial pollution from particulate matter and sulfur dioxide to increased mortality from, among other things, cancer and cardiovascular and kidney diseases. In 2019, the European Court of Human Rights finally ruled that Italy had not adequately protected the population from the health consequences of emissions.

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Despite scandals, lawsuits and multiple changes of ownership, steel continued to be produced in Taranto. Because not only the economic future of thousands of families depends on the work. The location is also very important for Italy's steel supply.

This is the other side of the conflict, which is currently becoming visible again outside the factory gates. Workers have blocked streets and demonstrated in recent days. They are demanding clarity from the government in Rome about what will happen next with the plant and their jobs.

One of them is Oronzo Spagnolo. "Closing this plant would collapse an entire region: Taranto, the province, Puglia," he says. "And the Italian steel industry would also feel the consequences." The concerns are concrete: the special administrators of Acciaierie d'Italia have now applied for short-time work for up to 8,622 employees.

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Now the decades-long conflict could be reaching a decisive point. At the end of July, the appeal court in Milan ordered that production in the so-called “area a caldo” be stopped. This includes the hot area of ​​the plant - the heart of previous steel production with a coking plant and blast furnaces.

The judges placed the right to health above economic interests. Several attempts by the companies to temporarily suspend the order failed.

Ilva and the operating company Acciaierie d'Italia, both of which are under special administration, have lodged an appeal. Today the Court of Cassation, Italy's highest judicial authority, is considering the case.

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Many employees and trade unionists are now saying that things cannot continue as before. Spagnolo calls for a fundamental restructuring: "We no longer want to work with a coal-based production cycle."

Instead of blast furnaces and coal, more climate-friendly steel production with electric furnaces and direct reduced iron should offer a future perspective. The Italian government is also focusing on decarbonization and new industrial projects and at the same time wants to maintain domestic steel production.

But the conversion is expensive - and the search for a long-term industrial solution takes a long time.

At the same time, resistance to any further steel production is growing in Taranto. Just on Friday, hundreds of people took to the streets again under the motto "Taranto torna a vivere" - Taranto returns to life. Citizens' initiatives are calling for the closure of the plant and a comprehensive renovation of the site, which has been polluted for decades.

Your idea of ​​the future of Taranto looks different: new jobs should be created in research and education, renewable energies, agriculture and the maritime economy, among other things.

This topic in the program: tagesschau.de | Europe's largest steelworks on the verge of collapse? | 10/20/26 | 9:40 a.m