WELCOME

The chairs of the 13^th conference of SUITMA (Soils of Urban, Industrial, Traffic, Mining and Military Areas), commission of the IUSS  (International Union of Soil Science), on behalf of the Research Institute on Terrestrial Ecosystems (IRET) of the Italian National Research Council (CNR) are pleased to invite you to participate to the conference, that will be held

5-9 October 2025, CNR Pisa, Italy

The Conference will focus on “SUITMA from a One Health Perspective”.

Soil is a key component of the water and nutrient cycle, and a major contributor to global carbon sequestration. Soil also provides habitats for nearly all land plants, as well as a large proportion of terrestrial fauna. Despite its global importance, it is estimated that one third of global soil is degraded. In anthropized areas, soils undergo many forms of disturbance: manipulation, compaction, and pollution which impact their quality. However, even degraded soils have the potential to alleviate environmental problems and play a vital role in supporting vegetation. Degraded soils of urban areas and other anthropogenic lands merit scientific and professional attention in order to enhance their ecosystem services and to support nature- based solutions, to tackle the urgent challenges of climate change, and for the health of all organisms and ecosystems.

TOPICS

1. SUITMAs as sinks and source of pollutants – Keywords: geochemical cycles, urban food production.
2. SUITMAs to conserve and improve soil quality and biodiversity – Keywords: soil remediation, soil biology, bioindicators of soil quality and functionality, genomics.
3. SUITMA improvers and ecosystem services – Keywords: waste materials for soil construction, compost, rubble, mine waste, Technosols.
4. SUITMA challenges for the future – Keywords: pedology, Anthropocene, war contamination, emerging contaminants.

KEYNOTES

TIMELINES

Send Registration Form and Abstract to: suitma13@cnr.it (available from 1 March 2025)

The book of abstracts will be available with the conference materials, no conference proceedings will be published.

Participants will have the opportunity to submit the full paper to two Springer Special Issues of Journal of Soils and Sediments and Biology and Soil Fertility. Deadlines and author guidelines will be provided by the journals after the conference.

REGISTRATION

Fees	Early Bird	Registration after 15 May
Delegate	450,00€	600,00€
Student*	180,00€	200,00€
Accompanying Person	150,00€	200,00€
Soil and Art seminar	–	25,00€
Visit day one/ Visit day two	–	80,00/120,00€ approximate price

PROGRAM (under definition)

	h 15.00 Soil&Art field seminar by Gerd Wessolek (max 20 participants) h 18.00 Registration and Ice breaker	Cittadella Galileiana, Pisa
	h 9.00-17.30 Conference h 18.00 Guided tour: walking on the ancient city walls	CNR, Pisa
	h 9.00-17.30 Conference 19.30 Social dinner	CNR, Pisa Location to be defined
	One day visit	Azienda San Vito, wine producer partner of the Recrop project “Bioinocula and CROPping systems: an integrated biotechnological approach for improving crop yield, biodiversity and REsilience of Mediterranean agro-ecosystems”; visit to the Carthusian Monastery in Calci which also hosts a Natural History Museum, Tasting of local products (wine and olive oil).
	One day visit	Prato UniFI “Cost-effective solutions in Urban Soil Management” The project focuses on mitigating the environmental impact of soil sealing by repurposing the recovered asphalt into desealed urban soils, aimed at reducing desealing costs and enhancing green space creation.

Post-conference trip 10 -12 October (tentative program Southern Tuscany: Merse-Montieri mining area, Pitigliano-Europomice Extraction of tephra, Campiglia Marittima –geo-mining park) (to be confirmed depending on the number of participants).

COMMITTEES

SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE

ORGANISING COMMITTEE

VENUE

The Research Area of Pisa is the largest research area of CNR. It covers more than 10 hectares and hosts 13 CNR Institutes as well as a medical centre for research in cardiology and respiratory medicine, university and private companies’ units sharing central services for technical, logistic, ICT and security issues. More than 1500 people are employed in the Area, involved in research activities oriented to Environment and Green Chemistry, Life Science, and ICT.

Area della Ricerca del CNR via G. Moruzzi 1 56124 Pisa, Italy

TRAVEL INFORMATION

By PLANE

Pisa has an international airport with daily flights from/to London, Paris, Bruxelles and other European cities, as well as from/to Rome, Milan, and other Italian cities. The flight timetable of is available on the Pisa International Airport website (Galileo Galilei Airport, PSA). https://www.pisa-airport.com/en/

The airport is 6 km far from Research Area of Pisa. The “People Mover” train, closed to the Pisa Airport Terminal, daily links the Airport to Pisa Railway Station, with a ride every 5/8 minutes (6:00 am to 12:00 pm). https://www.pisa-airport.com/en/the-passengers/transport/people-mover.html. At the Railway Station you can take the bus LAM Verde (L/V) (direction Via di Pratale) to get off at the stop Volpi CNR. Tickets are on sale outside the railway station. Taxi service is also available.

By TRAIN

The railway station is about 5 km far from Research Area of Pisa and it is located on the main line from Turin to Rome. There is also a train service to/from Florence. Trenitalia provides a train schedule and booking service at the following link https://www.trenitalia.com/en.html. At the Railway Station you can take the bus LAM Verde (L/V) (direction Via di Pratale) to get off at the stop Volpi CNR. Tickets are on sale outside the railway station. Taxi service is also available.

By CAR

Pisa is near two highways: A12 north-south (Exit Pisa centro) and A11 east-west (Exit Lucca est – Pisa Nord). More Information are available on https://www.autostrade.it/en/home

ACCOMODATIONS

When booking at the following hotels, mention the discount code SUITMA13: Hotel Duomo, Hotel Vittoria, Hotel Leonardo, Hotel Repubblica Marinara, Hotel Verdi

VISITING PISA

Pisa boasts a thousand-year history which reached its peak at the Middle Age, time of the Maritime Republics, a period that created the centre of the city as an artistic treasure trove with outstanding Romanesque and Gothic churches. Pisa and its uniquely beautiful Piazza del Duomo, a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1987, is visited by millions of people from all over the world every year. The nature surrounds the city, especially with the Natural Park of Migliarino, San Rossore and Massaciuccoli, which extends over 23000 ha and 30 km of coastline. In the park we can find the largest pine forest in Europe, meadows, holm oak woods, reeds, wetlands, and dunes, to be discovered on foot or by bicycle. Marina di Pisa is the nearest seaside following the river Arno less than 20 minutes’ drive.

Pisa is easily reachable by plane: it has very good connections, hosting the main airport in Tuscany and the first in Italy for passenger traffic. The airport is located just a few km from the city centre.