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Geothermal energy, tourism & sustainability – Geopark of Colline Metallifere, Italy to expand

Geothermal energy, tourism & sustainability – Geopark of Colline Metallifere, Italy to expand Colline Metallifere GeoPark, Tuscany, Italy (source: LepoRello, wikimedia/ creative commons)
Alexander Richter 22 Jan 2021

As one of 10 UNESCO-recognized GeoParks, the Colline Metallifere (Metalliferous Hills or Metal-bearing Hills) in Tuscany/ Italy is now being expanded with the support of Enel Green Power as a project to guarantee sustainability of the park and its features.

In Italy there are only 10 geoparks recognized by Unesco, and that of the Colline Metallifere, established 2015, is one of these. This speaks on the excellence above all of geothermal energy, given that the most important geosite of international importance (Gir) is represented by the Biancane Naturalistic Park: a slice of Tuscany rich in geothermal events where you can admire shower heads, steam leaks from the ground, putizze and fumaroles. But the warm heart of Tuscany also beats strong elsewhere in the territory, and the opportunity has come to create a system: the Geopark of the Metalliferous Hills has recently started the procedure to expand its territory to include a further 96 sq km falling within the municipalities of Castelnuovo Val di Cecina , Pomarance and Radicondoli. In particular, it is the area of ??Larderello, Sasso Pisano, Montecastelli and a portion of Radicondoli. Now work has begun to expand the GeoPark by additional 96 sq km in the municipalities of Castelnuovo Val di Cecina, Pomarance and Radicondoli in Tuscany, Italy.

“After a work that lasted a few months we managed – declares the president of the Park, Lidia Bai – to prepare this request for the extension of the Park which for us represents a great positive turning point. In particular, we can create a wider network of collaboration with the surrounding municipalities”. Now it is a matter of waiting: the response of the Unesco global geoparks council should arrive by September 2021, and could give a robust boost to sustainable development – in terms of tourism and more – to the territory.

The “new” area would in fact join the current one of the geopark, extended 1087 sq km, which includes the municipalities of Follonica, Gavorrano, Massa Marittima, Monterotondo Marittimo, Montieri, Roccastrada and Scarlino, with the aim of creating a unique and identifying territory in the name of sustainability and enhancement of the geothermal area in its entirety.

“On the one hand, the extension of the park to the entire traditional geothermal area creates a broad context in which to develop greater synergies and develop new and important enhancement and development strategies, as well as forms of integrated management of a great environmental and cultural heritage, on the other – observes the mayor of Castelnuovo Val di Cecina, Alberto Ferrini – the biancane of Monterotondo and the fumaroles of Sasso finally come together in a single circuit. In fact, they represent a unique context and manifest in their landscape specificities, biodiversity and endogenous phenomena the non-industrial but natural face of geothermal energy “.

“I want to express my full support for the inclusion of our Municipality – adds the mayor of Pomarance, Ilaria Bacci – in the request for expansion of the geopark and in particular of Larderello, the place where geothermal energy was the object of the first time in the world cultivation; for this reason it could not miss its inclusion in the perimeter of the geothermal area. The geopark is enriched with new additions, opening up to a territory extended over three municipalities that possess a valuable cultural and environmental heritage which, without a doubt, will contribute to marking the territory in an even more identifying way and enhancing the entire traditional geothermal area “. Great enthusiasm also comes from Luca Moda, deputy mayor of Radicondoli:

The entire operation relies on the support of Enel Green Power, the manager of the Tuscan geothermal plants, which sees in this initiative a project of sustainability and continuity of the metalliferous hills, as well as an opportunity for the sustainable development of the territory. In this regard, a memorandum of understanding was signed in recent days by the president of the park Lidia Bai and the mayors of the three municipalities concerned.

“The geothermal phenomenon – concludes Luigi Parisi, head of Geothermal energy for Enel green power – is an important and qualifying factor for the development of sustainable tourism in the unique Tuscan geothermal lands. It is a resource of great value for the territory, both for the production of electricity, which satisfies more than 30% of the regional electricity needs, but also for the direct use of heat with residential district heating, of the artisanal and agri-food chain. , as well as for the excursion and tourist cultural aspects with natural manifestations, parks and geothermal museum centers.”

Source: Greenreport