Environmentalists, actors, and film directors are among those opposing plans to install 200-metre-high wind turbines near the medieval town of Orvieto.
German company RWE has received permission to erect seven turbines in a picturesque area between Orvieto and Lake Bolsena, renowned for its vineyards, olive groves, extinct volcanoes, and historic sites.
The turbines, which would be four times taller than Orvieto’s 13th-century cathedral – one of Italy’s finest Gothic buildings – have sparked controversy. Pope Leo XIII famously described the cathedral as “so sublime” it would ascend to heaven on Judgement Day.
Local groups opposing the project have gained high-profile supporters, including actresses Isabella Rossellini and Claudia Cardinale, and Cannes award-winning director Alice Rohrwacher. They have joined a petition sent to President Sergio Mattarella, voicing concerns that while they support renewable energy, the turbines would destroy the unspoilt rural landscape, being visible for kilometres around.
“As we face the climate crisis, promoting renewable energy is certainly a priority, but the transition to green energy should consider the risk of radical and irreversible changes to the landscape,” the campaigners stated.
One turbine is planned less than 500 metres from a ninth-century BC Etruscan burial ground. This violates a law that requires a three-kilometre distance between turbines and cultural heritage sites, according to the campaigners.
Is there enough inland wind for the turbines?
Additionally, critics argue that Italy lacks sufficient inland wind for such projects. Ripa, a group opposed to onshore wind farms, claimed, “Italy is a country of sun, not wind.” They also raised concerns over the environmental impact of the turbines’ construction, noting that a single 200-metre turbine requires 12-metre-deep foundations, 1,000 tons of concrete, and 165 tons of steel, potentially threatening local aquifers and water supplies.
RWE, however, maintains that all “requirements, criteria, and regulations” have been met, and the local authorities have dismissed the activists’ objections.
Mattarella says climate change action inadequate
According to Maurizio Conticelli of the Orvieto branch of Friends of the Earth, wind farms have already dominated parts of southern Italy’s coastline, Sardinia, and Sicily, and now central Italy is the target. “But they didn’t count on the local communities fighting back,” he said.
