(Image of the trial. Photo by Stava1985)

On June 16, 1985 the Stava Onlus 1985 received the Alexander Langer Award. The prize, financially supported by the Ethic Bank (Banca Etica), aims to promote the associations which work in the context of the Sustainable Development , civil rights and the ecological conversion of economy and work. The Stava 1985 Foundation was born after one of the worst tragedies in the history of the Region of Trentino. At 12:22 on the July 19, 1985, around 170 cubic metres of mud spread out by the mineral plant of Prestavel, sweep away an entire village, and 268 people with it.

The land was obviously unfit for the structure, ma the two major societies who had the power on the plant, such as Montedison and Eni, did not want to spend funds for the transports towards a safer area. From that moment, the 172 civil parts, who received 500 millions of Lire after the trial, decided to use the funds to create an association with the aim to keep alive the memory of the tragedy. Moreover, the objectives of the Foundation are: to reinforce the culture of the prevention and the correct use of the territory, the promotion of a documentation centre, to create a natural-historical path called "La Montagna delle scoperte" ("The Discovery Mountain"), and to create a Master Programme in "Analysis and management of the geotechnical systems" in cooperation with the Universities of Trento, Modena, Reggio Emilia and Torino.

The President of the Foundation Graziano Lucchi, explained how it is "essential to increase the attention level towards this kind of catastrophe" and also added: "Accidents like the one of Val di Stresa keep happening in the world twice a year". Unfortunately these tragedies comes from economical criteria, and the risks for the environment and the local populations are very high. For this reason is required to not forget the words of our tenth President of the Italian Republic:

"Unfortunately the unavoidable can happen sometimes. But this is not the case. These tragedies have to be avoided: we should not have created the conditions to let it happen".

(Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, 1999)