Viggiano is today the capital of Italian oil. Twenty of the 27 wells in the Agri Valley fall within its municipality, as well as the Oil Center where the gas is separated from the liquid part (as well as the sulfur), compressed and fed into the Snam distribution network. The crude oil, stabilized and stored, is instead shipped to Taranto, through a 136-kilometer long pipeline, from where it mainly heads towards Turkey.
The town is crossed by an underground network of pipes that flow from the wells towards the Oil Center: every day in the bowels of the Lucanian town, 3.4 million cubic meters of gas and the equivalent of 81,868 barrels of oil travel (each barrel contains 159 liters). These figures make this valley "the largest onshore field in Western Europe", as Eni defines it.
Unfortunately, we are also talking about a land repeatedly violated and extremely high levels of pollution. Eni is on trial in two cases for the environmental disasters of 2016 and 2017: 400 tons of oil leaked from the storage tanks of the Oil Center, polluting the land and water for about 26 thousand square meters. Eni initially denied and then admitted the accidents.
In the land of the Black Madonna of Viggiano, Patron Saint of Basilicata, the problem is real: the Acqua dell’abete, in the woods of nearby Calvello at 1,200 meters above sea level, was found to be polluted, and even this may not be as clear as it appears. "But the faithful drink it anyway because they think it is the water of the Madonna and it cannot do any harm".... The Black Madonna of the Sacred Mount of Viggiano could be black with oil....
Too bad.... because this territory with its mountains is truly worthy of a cycling tour
Translated by Google •
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