Italy's top court upholds halt to hot area of Taranto's ex Ilva steelworks

Supreme court upholds the shutdown order

Italy's Court of Cassation has rejected the appeals against a decision to halt the hot area of the former Ilva steelworks in Taranto, leaving the Milan Court of Appeal's order fully in force. The combined civil chambers of the court, the Sezioni Unite Civili, ruled after a hearing on 20 October, and the outcome was reported on 29 October. The challenges were brought by Ilva and by Acciaierie d'Italia, the company that runs the plant, with Acciaierie d'Italia holding also filing, through two separate extraordinary appeals. The filings name the commissioners of both companies, who are operating under extraordinary administration. Taranto residents, who took part in the long-running case across Milan, Luxembourg and Rome, filed counter-appeals in support of the order.

Health grounds and the court's reasoning

The Milan decree, dated 27 July, found the plant harmful to human health because of dust released into the air and the presence of asbestos in the blast furnaces. It gave the company 90 days to carry out the stop, and the Milan judges confirmed the order at hearings on 9 September and 30 September. The Cassation rejected the companies' objections to those reasons and declared several of their grounds inadmissible for lack of interest. Among them were complaints about how the court handled a VIS study and a favourable opinion from the ISS on which the 2025 AIA authorisation had been based. The companies had also pointed to the plant's maximum authorised output of 6 million tonnes a year rather than its current production level, and the court found those grounds inadmissible as well. The Supreme Court further held that the Milan judges' reasons on asbestos and fine dust were each independent and each sufficient to support the order, so the order would stand even if the fine-dust grounds were found valid. The court said the strength of the injunction was proportionate to the primary right being protected and to EU requirements on environmental and health protection.

Timeline of the case

The proceedings moved through a sequence of dated steps, from the 27 July decree to the Milan hearings of 9 and 30 September, the Cassation hearing on 20 October and the ruling reported on 29 October. Each step is shown in the timeline below.

Political and workforce stakes

Greek business outlet Naftemporiki described the ruling as a blow to the government of Giorgia Meloni, which has been trying to save what it called the country's largest steel industry. The plant directly employs about 8,000 people, and the decision adds to uncertainty about the factory's future less than a year before the next general election. The Cassation ruling leaves the Milan order in place, so the halt to the hot area, which includes the coke ovens and blast furnaces, remains the legal position for the plant. The sources reviewed here do not describe the company's next steps within the 90-day period set out in the July decree.