Two weeks after his stay in Naples, the head of the Church returns to the region between Naples and Caserta. Italian media point out that the pilgrimage is a form of support for the community living on earth, which – as local priest Mimmo Iervolino put it – “if it could talk, it would shout that it can't cope anymore.” These words come from a song he wrote, which will be played in the presence of the Pope.
The meeting will take place in the heart of the area where mafia gangs have been transporting dangerous substances to illegal dumps and burying them in the soil for decades. Fires that break out there release dioxins and other compounds harmful to people and ecosystems into the atmosphere. The scale of the practice made the region a symbol of an ecological disaster.
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Ecomafia
The term Land of Fire appeared for the first time in 2003 in a report by the Italian Environmental Protection League, devoted to the phenomenon of the so-called ecomafia. This concept gained worldwide fame thanks to Roberto Saviano's book “Gomorra”, describing the Camorra – mafia gangs operating in the Campania region. Since then, the term has been used as a synonym for contaminated areas around Naples and Caserta.
The police collected the first signals about illegal storage of poisonous substances in the mid-1990s. Despite the collected evidence, the investigation was then suspended. The case returned only in 2011, when prosecutor Alessandro Milita resumed the investigation. It was then that extensive warehouses of dangerous waste were discovered on an area of 3 million square meters.
The Casalesi clan and the underground dumps of the Camorra
Two years later, in 2015, the state forest guard found the largest underground toxic dump in Europe in the Calvi Risorta commune. The prosecutor's office also showed that 200,000 illegally came to the former tuff quarry in Maddaloni near Caserta. tons of substances hazardous to health. All traces pointed to the Camorra, and especially to the Casalesi clan of Casal di Principe, which then dominated the region.
The mechanism of action was based on cooperation between the mafia and local industry. To save on disposal, plants and factories entrusted gangs with the removal of production residues. According to investigators' findings, several hundred companies were involved in the practice. One article published online described what happened in the Land of Fire as “the largest mass poisoning ever to occur in a Western country.”
The contaminated area covers over 1,000 square kilometers. There are 57 communes with 2.5 million people living there. The most dangerous consequence of many years of environmental pollution and fires – often started on purpose – is the increase in cancer rates, which also affects the youngest residents.
Analyzes from 2012, based on the register of oncological diseases in children from Campania, revealed a significant increase in thyroid cancer cases. Seven years later, subsequent tests showed the presence of heavy metals in the bodies of cancer-sick people from this area. The results confirmed a direct link between contamination and the health of the local community.
A landmark judgment of the European Court of Human Rights
In 2025, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Italy was violating its citizens' right to life by failing to adequately respond to the mafia's illegal waste dumping in Campania. This decision was considered groundbreaking. The lawsuit was filed by 41 residents of the provinces of Caserta and Naples and five regional organizations, pointing to the state's passivity in the face of the poisoning of their land.
The judges pointed out that the Roman authorities had long known about the scale of the phenomenon, but had not introduced effective solutions. Seven parliamentary investigative committees were established to investigate irregularities in waste management, but their work did not bring any real improvement and the threats related to illegal landfills remained ignored. The Court obliged the Italian government to present a comprehensive plan to solve the problem within two years.
During his stay at Acer, Leo XIV will listen to testimonies of people fighting cancer. He will also meet with families who have lost loved ones to cancer.
