Umbria urges Meloni to halt the wind farm project in Orvieto

Given that all administrative channels are closed, the president of Umbria invokes the saints in her plea to Giorgia Meloni. The progressive Stefania Proietti, in a letter to the Prime Minister, calls for the protection of “the integrity of the unique beauty” of Umbria, which is the “birthplace of St Francis, patron saint of Italy, and St Benedict, patron saint of Europe, upon whom the cultural roots of our country are therefore founded”. The landscape and history of Italy and Europe are threatened by Phobos – named after a fearsome mythological figure, but which is in fact nothing more than a wind farm to be built near Orvieto. ‘Let Meloni put a stop to renewables’ is the plea from Umbria. 

Proietti calls on Meloni to act in the name of a ‘shared vision’, in defence of ‘the very integrity of the landscape of ancient Volsinii as it appeared to our Etruscan ancestors’. It is clear that the Umbrian president’s Vannaccian rhetoric is intended to appeal to the Christian and conservative sensibilities of the Prime Minister, in a last-ditch attempt to prevent the implementation of the project by the German company RWE Renewables, which involves seven wind turbines, each with a capacity of 6 MW (totalling 42 MW), in the municipalities of Castel Giorgio and Orvieto.

This story, symbolic of the difficulties in developing renewable energy in Italy – particularly wind power, which, incidentally, is practically non-existent in Umbria – began on 11 August 2021 with a request for an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) from RWE. The Draghi government was still in power at the time. On 19 October 2022, the Umbria Regional Government, through its Technical Commission for Environmental Assessments, issued a favourable opinion, whilst setting out certain recommendations and conditions. On 7 December 2022, the project received a favourable opinion from the MASE’s PNRR-PNIEC Technical Commission. Finally, on 27 June 2023, the Council of Ministers issued a positive assessment of environmental compatibility, granting the EIA and resolving the conflict between the conflicting opinions of MASE and MIC. At that point, the Umbria Region (under the Tesei administration) had 60 days to issue the Single Authorisation, after which it was granted by tacit consent.

At this stage, the administrative process – after two years and thousands of pages of preliminary investigations and opinions from ministries, local authorities, associations and citizens – has come to an end. But in reality, this is only the beginning. What makes the Orvieto case unique is that the wind farm is being opposed by several VIPs who own estates and castles in the area and do not want these wind turbines – which they believe will reduce the value of their properties – to be visible from their windows. Leading the public and administrative protest are the Rohrwacher family – including the actress Alba and the director Alice; the fashion designer Alessandro Michele, creative director at Valentino and formerly at Gucci; and Princess Marie-Astrid von Liechtenstein. They are joined by environmental organisations, which fear that these 200-metre-tall spinning iron monsters will obscure the view of Orvieto Cathedral.

Meanwhile, the German company has won all its appeals before the Regional Administrative Court and the Council of State. However, an appeal signed by 100 celebrities and addressed to the President of the Republic has turned the issue into a national one. Fiorello joins the 100 celebrities; speaking on Radio 2, he suggests to the Umbria regional government the administrative route to follow: simply initiate “proceedings to annul the tacit consent”, says the comedian. President Proietti follows the well-known comedian’s administrative advice, as if she were Sabino Cassese. The region announces that the proceedings will be concluded by June, but soon realises there is no leeway. The deadline for annulment through self-defence – three years having passed since the 2023 decision – has expired. And even the route of a technical annulment, citing the need to protect bats that might collide with the blades, is not a viable option. RWE therefore has all the necessary authorisations in place; only a few secondary permits from specific bodies are still outstanding, but the German energy company is already making preparations for construction, which, once the site is up and running, is expected to be completed within a year.

All that remains is to appeal to Giorgia Meloni – in the name of St Francis, St Benedict and ‘our Etruscan ancestors’ – to revoke, ‘as a measure of governmental self-protection’, the environmental authorisation granted by the government in 2023. If the VIPs failed to achieve this through their appeals to the Regional Administrative Court, who knows whether the saints might manage to work a miracle and make Meloni change her mind.

The bizarre aspect of this story is that, whilst at national level the Campo Largo coalition accuses the government of slowing down the development of renewables, in the regions governed by the centre-left it clashes with the government because it is not doing enough to halt them. “We need to step up the pace on renewables,” said Elly Schlein in an interview with Il Foglio on Thursday. On the very same day, the Constitutional Court ruled that a Sardinian law – through which the progressive Todde regional government had blocked authorisations for renewables – was unlawful. And the following day came the ‘holy letter’ from Umbria to Meloni calling for the demolition of the Phobos wind farm. By now, the only way the ‘Campo largo’ has left to define its energy policy is to turn the policy-making table into a spiritual retreat.