The Sibillini Aqueduct Ring, Europe's first earthquake-resistant aqueduct, took center stage at Palazzo Wedekind during the international conference “Earthquake-Proof”, organized by CIIP S.p.A. - Cicli Integrati Impianti Primari in collaboration with the One Water Committee Italy, BIM Tronto - Bacino Imbrifero Montano del Tronto, the Earth and Water Agenda Foundation (EWA) and the Special Commissioner's Office for the 2016 Earthquake Reconstruction.
The meeting was attended by numerous national institutional representatives: Nello Musumeci, Minister for Civil Protection and Maritime Policy; Francesco Lollobrigida, Minister of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry; Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, Minister of the Environment and Energy Security, who spoke via video message; Guido Castelli, the Government's Special Commissioner for the 2016 Earthquake Reconstruction; Nasser Kamel, Secretary General of the Union for the Mediterranean; Alain Meyssonnier, President of the Mediterranean Water Institute of Marseille (IME); and Stavros Papastavrou, Minister of the Environment and Energy of Greece.

Interconnection as a Model

In her speech, One Water Committee President Maria Spena emphasized that the aqueduct represents a unique and strategic project, with a network spanning approximately 300 km and interconnections between various water systems capable of ensuring water service to more than 100 municipalities in the Marche region.
Spena directly linked this experience to the work of the Euro-Mediterranean Water Forum, scheduled to take place in Rome from 29 September to 2 October, explaining how interconnection between water systems will also be a key theme there, on a far larger scale: while the Sibillini Aqueduct Ring connects the networks of three provinces to ensure continuity of service in an earthquake-prone area, the Forum is working to build a network linking over 40 countries across multiple geopolitical regions of the Mediterranean. The Sibillini Aqueduct Ring, the President noted, therefore represents a concrete infrastructure model — capable of turning a territory's vulnerability into resilience through interconnection — that will be presented as an example during the Forum.

A Resilience Model for Europe

The earthquake-resistant model developed in the Marche region is unique in Europe and represents a structural response to the water crisis affecting the area — a crisis exacerbated by the 2016 earthquakes. The infrastructure stands today as an example of infrastructure resilience and technological innovation in addressing the challenges posed by climate change and natural hazards.