Livorno stop for the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Matteo Salvini, who came on a visit to the construction area of Darsena Europa, the sea expansion project of the port of Livorno.
Welcoming him were the Extraordinary Commissioner of the Port Authority, Davide Gariglio, the Prefect Giancarlo Dionisi, the Mayor Luca Salvetti, and the commissarial structure of the major infrastructure, led by the outgoing Commissioner Luciano Guerrieri, the Deputy Commissioner Roberta Macii, and the technical manager, Enrico Pribaz.
During the visit, the details of the port’s sea expansion works were illustrated to the Minister. Which began in May.
To date, the first 450 meters of the offshore pier have been completed, which will delimit a new 15-hectare reclamation basin intended to host the material resulting from the foundation activities of the new breakwaters and which in the future will be consolidated to allow the landing of both the future FIPILI and the railway network.
“These are pre-operam construction site activities started while environmental monitoring activities are still ongoing,” explained Pribaz, adding that the entire package of these monitoring activities will be presented to the Ministry of the Environment in March 2026 for the final go-ahead.
This last step is preparatory to the construction of the rest of the offshore works and dredging activities. Overall, the construction of a 4.6 km external offshore breakwater is planned, consisting of the new upwave pier and the new Meloria breakwater downwave (the old breakwater will be demolished). Internal breakwaters for 2.3 km will then be built, which will delimit the new 130-hectare reclamation basins that will be added to the existing ones (70 hectares).
As for dredging, 17 million cubic meters of material will be dredged, to bring the new access channel (north side entrance) to a depth of 17 meters and the quays to -16, which, however, will be founded to withstand a seabed deepening to -20.
While work at sea continues, the RTI formed by Società Italiana Dragaggi, Fincantieri Infrastructure Opere Marittime, Sales and Fincosit, is moving forward with the consolidation of the first reclamation basin, a work built in 2014 and now completely leveled.
The bulldozers are at work to insert drains into the ground, from which residual water will exit once the pre-load material has been placed on top of it. This is a large earth mound with a surface area of 80,000 square meters that is moved from one side of the ground to the other every five months to compact it completely. To date, the first 80,000 square meters have been compacted out of a total area of approximately 37 hectares. The goal is to complete all consolidation by June 2027.
“The work will allow us to have a finished surface where the future concessionaire can build the pavement and operational yards,” clarified Pribaz, who added that the port authority is also working in the meantime on the infrastructuring of the current port. Not far from the construction site area, the Marzocco Tower is visible, the quay below which will need to be cut back to widen the access channel to 125 meters.
“We are ready to start with the intervention, we are only waiting for the compliance opinion from MASE for the exclusion from the EIA,” emphasized the technical manager of the AdSP and the commissioner’s structure.
Minister Salvini and Commissioner Gariglio then addressed the issue of resources. The economic framework for the public works of the Darsena Europa is around 554 million euros. The actual cost of the sea interventions amounts to approximately 440 million euros, to which must be added 50 million euros for the consolidation of the first basin, 32 million euros for environmental expenses (including 22 million for monitoring activities and 6 million euros for the purchase of carbon credits to compensate for emissions) and the potential charges of the economic framework (expenses for unforeseen events, etc.).
The project is already funded. But 130 million euros are still missing for the completion of the road and railway connections (70 million) and for the consolidation of the second reclamation basin (another 50 million). To these, the potential 40 million euros necessary to build a new bridge should then be added, which in the near future will allow all the yachts and superyachts from the shipyards located on the Navicelli Canal (which flows into the Scolmatore channel) to exit directly and easily into the open sea.
“The Darsena Europa is a work of national interest and it is pleasing to see that in five years this work will be operational,” stated Minister Salvini. “This is a feat of high hydraulic engineering for which we must thank the technicians working on it, the Port Authority, the Port Captaincy and all the actors involved.”
On the topic of resources, Salvini clarified that the work being carried out is already funded and that “a potential additional one hundred million euros will not block the development of the port, this is out of the question.”
Commissioner Gariglio was satisfied with the meeting: “We are happy because on Tuesday we had the opportunity to express to Minister Salvini the necessity of the Government’s support for this work, which is not a simple dock but a strategic project that will change Livorno’s impact on the international port system,” he stated.
“We need strong support because the investments still to be made are demanding. We are putting in the maximum effort to build the infrastructure on schedule and the collaboration from all the local institutions is at its maximum. I want to thank the team working on this infrastructure and I thank the Minister for his closeness and for the help which we are certain will not be lacking,” he concluded.
