- Title: Rust, dust and superyachts as America's Cup lands in Naples
- Date: 21st March 2026
- Summary: BAGNOLI, NAPLES, ITALY (MARCH 18, 2026) (REUTERS) TOP VIEW OF BAGNOLI DISTRICT VARIOUS OF DREDGER OPERATING AT SEA FORMER BAGNOLI STEELWORKS ITALSIDER TRUCKS SEEN WORKING BEHIND ITALSIDER TRUCKS WORKING AT SITE TRUCK DUMPING SOIL AT COASTLINE REMEDIATION AREA CONSTRUCTION WORKERS AT SITE WORK IN PROGRESS AT COASTLINE REMEDIATION AREA BUILDINGS BUILDING WHERE LOCAL RESIDENT
- Embargoed:
- Keywords: AMERICA'S CUP BAGNOLI HEALTH INDUSTRY ITALY NAPLES SAILING
- Location: NAPLES, ITALY
- City: NAPLES, ITALY
- Country: Italy
- Topics: Environment,Europe,Editors' Choice
- Reuters ID: LVA001544719032026RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: On the western fringes of Naples, rusted factory skeletons loom over a shoreline poisoned by decades of heavy industry. Next year, the same stretch of coast will host the America's Cup, the most glamorous event in global yachting.
The collision between these two diametrically opposed worlds has generated a broader battle over whether the sailing extravaganza will finally help clean up the Bagnoli district, or simply bury its toxic past beneath a hurried facelift.
Dredgers are already at work offshore deepening the seabed in readiness for the racing yachts, excavators are tearing up an old pier, and crews are preparing the ground for what is meant to be just a temporary harbour for the carbon-fibre boats.
Politicians say the regatta, awarded to Italy last year, is serving as a desperately needed catalyst for reclaiming one of the country's most polluted waterfronts, which used to house a smoke-spewing steel mill, cement factory and asbestos plant.
But for many residents, activists and small business owners, the work unfolding in Bagnoli looks less like redemption than a familiar pattern: a grand promise made in the name of progress, with no guarantee it will lead to long-term gain.
The main dispute centres on a coastal landfill containing an estimated one million cubic meters (35 million cubic feet) of industrial waste, which was left when the last of the factories closed in 1992.
Initial plans envisaged removing it entirely to guarantee a safe shoreline for future generations in Bagnoli, but officials decided to remove only a small fraction of the furnace slag and cover the rest with vast geomembrane sheets to isolate the contamination ahead of building hangars and workshops for the race teams.
"This is a sham," said Ines Clemente, a Bagnoli bar owner who has organised a petition against the works. "It's just covering things up, sweeping everything under the rug."
Even if they aren't emptying the waste dump, teams of workers are scrapping away the top layer of a dirt and removing thousands of tonnes of contaminated sand and stone from the seabed to create a level basin for the anchorage.
Much of the material is being carried away by lorries that regularly sweep through Bagnoli, once an elegant spa town before the industrial titans took over in the mid-20th century.
While Clemente hopes her bar will eventually fill up again once the lorries have gone, another Bagnoli resident, Paola Minieri, worries that once the work is complete, she will lose her home.
As part of a city project to upgrade the area, which pre-dates the America's Cup contract, her family house is earmarked for demolition.
Minieri's family has lived in Borgo Coroglio, a cluster of old seafront homes adjacent to the America's Cup port, for more than 100 years. The city council has said the area needs to be cleared away for the "public good", but has yet to present detailed plans with what will come next, apart from acknowledging that some residential units will be built.
Such beachfront property, with views across the deep blue sea to the islands of Ischia and Procida, would be highly desirable and likely come with a big price tag.
"We are not the people who say 'no'. We are the people who want things to move forward, especially because this place has been battered for more than forty years," said Minieri.
Living in Bagnoli has come at a cost for many residents. Minieri said 10 members of her extended family had died from asbestos-linked cancers that local doctors say could be triggered by exposure to pollutants from the old factories.
"For over forty years we have endured and resisted. So we deserve to stay here," she said.
City council chief Amato said a final decision had not yet been taken.
(Production: Antonio Denti, Matteo Ciambelli, Matteo Negri, Ciro De Luca, Yesim Dikmen) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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