“There are events in the history of Italy that mark a before and after. Because they shape History. And, because of them, the world will never be the same,” reads the beginning of the synopsis of Seveso – The Italian Chernobyl. At MIA 2024, Business Doc Europe caught up with the Fandango team to unpack the 4×50-minute documentary series about the notorious 1976 Seveso disaster, an industrial accident that occurred in a small chemical manufacturing plant.
The catastrophe unfolded in the area between Seveso and Meda, less than 15 km from Milan, Italy’s economic engine. “Here, on 10 July, the uncontrolled temperature increase in reactor A101 at ICMESA, a small chemical factory, triggered the safety system. A white cloud rose into the sky above the factory, and a terrible smell spread everywhere. It was dioxin. From that moment on, nothing would ever be the same,” the synopsis continues.
As a result, the entire area had to be evacuated, forcing families to abandon their homes. Nationwide, the disaster triggered a radical change in the industrial world, overturned workplace safety regulations, and reshaped environmental rights, even leading to the introduction of the abortion law.
Today, the event is ranked as the eighth worst man-made environmental disaster in history, with direct impacts on Italy, as well as involving Germany, France, Switzerland, and the United States. The investigation uncovered a web of economic interests, silences, complicities, and previously unsuspected state secrets.
“Fifty years later—despite the media coverage of the case, the identification of a few alleged minor culprits, and the discovery years later of a Special Archive (which appeared and disappeared multiple times during the investigation, a mystery within the mystery) containing classified documents hidden from investigators and the public—we still do not know the full truth about what is one of the world’s worst environmental catastrophes,” the team highlights.
“On the eve of the 50th anniversary and with the occurrence of similar new tragedies, such as the East Palestine train derailment in Ohio, USA, in February 2023, with a new release of dioxin into the environment, this is an international story that cannot be forgotten. And it must be told. Today.”
Key creatives on the project include writers Matteo Liuzzi, Niccolò Martin, Fabio Ragazzo, and Chiara Battistini (who also serves as the director). Battistini previously worked for networks such as MTV, Rai 2, LA7, Sky UK, and Sky Italia. She has helmed several projects exploring the relationship between fashion and art, including Michelangelo Pistoletto, tra Padre e Figlio, distributed by Sky Arte. In 2022, she served as author, director, and executive producer of the Sky docuseries La Mala. Banditi a Milano, and directed the Sky documentary Michelangelo – Saint or Sinner?
Zooming in on why she is pursuing this project and her directorial approach, Battistini explains: “I have always been drawn to complex stories that hide uncomfortable, multifaceted truths with unpredictable twists. When I listened to the Seveso podcast, I immediately envisioned how to tell this story, guiding the viewer through a series of questions that I asked myself first. Through archival material and interviews with the key figures of the story…we aim to reconstruct the event and its emotional, social, economic, and environmental consequences.”
“To do this, I would like to shoot the locations in Seveso, those that can still be visited today, and those that we will recreate for the re-enactments. My primary goal is to recreate the suspended atmosphere, the mood of uncertainty and confusion, that characterised both the crucial ten days after the reactor explosion and the nearly 50 years that followed, during which cover-ups and misinformation kept the truth hidden.”
“For the reconstructions of ICMESA and its departments A and B, I would like to use 3D images to help explain the technical aspects of the accident. The re-enactments will be carefully crafted and filled with details, while the protagonists themselves will cinematically relive the most impactful moments, visually emphasising the drama and its turning points.”
When asked about her expectations for this project, Battistini says: “The doc series aims to bring this story to even more viewers, and we hope that MIA will help us find partners willing to collaborate and bring it to an international audience. The biggest production challenge will certainly be creating a show that perfectly reconstructs the emotions of the time, while also trying to get closer to the truth after 50 years of lies and cover-ups.”
Seveso – The Italian Chernobyl, budgeted at €1.9 million, is being co-developed and co-produced by Feltrinelli and Fandango. Its release is scheduled for 2026, which will mark the 50th anniversary of the disaster. At MIA, the team is seeking broadcasters willing to finance the production.
