Casale Monferrato and Genoa discuss shared asbestos history

Casale Monferrato and Genoa recently held a public meeting to compare their respective histories regarding asbestos exposure, focusing on themes of health, labor rights, justice, and memory. The event, titled ‘Two cities, one story – Asbestos in Genoa and Casale’, was organized by various labor unions and associations, including Fiom, Cgil, and Afeva, with the patronage of the Municipality of Casale Monferrato.

The meeting coincided with significant anniversaries: the 2026 mark of forty years since the closure of the Eternit factory in 1986, and the anniversary of the inauguration of the Eternot Park on reclaimed land.

A central part of the event was the screening of the documentary ‘Asbestos. Genoa: story of a workers' struggle’. The film highlights the less widely known experience in Genoa, where in the mid-2000s, judicial investigations focused on pension benefits obtained by workers exposed to asbestos, contrasting the legal and social dynamics of the two industrial regions.