Valeria Mongelli

Their sons' deaths have something in common: the Ilva steel plant. Many mothers in Taranto, Southern Italy, link the premature death of their sons or daughters to the nearby factory. ArcelorMittal steel plant, still known as Ilva after the name given by its former owner, is Europe's largest steel plant. Scientific studies have linked emissions from the Ilva plant to health issues among the local population. For some forms of cancer, respiratory, renal, and cardiovascular diseases Taranto's rates exceed regional and national averages, and children are found to be more likely to be born with disabilities. Ilva is also dramatically famous for the high number of accidents at work that happen inside its walls.
In my reportage, I portray Taranto's mothers who lost a son or a daughter for a disease allegedly linked to Ilva's emissions or for a work accident that happened inside the steel plant. Antonella Massaro, for example, lost her 5-year-old daughter to leukemia. Vita Tinella said goodbye to her son while he was going to work at Ilva and never saw him alive again: he died on that same morning falling from a crane. These stories are tragic but are also examples of resilience and social militancy. In 2020, ArcelorMittal signed an agreement with the Italian government to form a public-private partnership and increase steel production in 2021. According to many, this means sentencing a territory and its inhabitants to death. Taranto's mothers wonder for how long they will still have to bury their sons.
This reportage has been published in Mnngful magazine: https://stories.mnngful.com/valeria-mongelli-the-steel-plant-mothers/