21 October 2025 | Pisa

Marina di Pisa coastal resilience model w/ Med- IREN project

Marble waste transformed into natural barriers against storms and rising sea levels: it is in the area of Marina di Pisa that the European coordination project Med-IREN is working to make this stretch of the Tuscan coast more resilient to the effects of climate change.

The idea is to take advantage of the natural morphodynamic features of gravel and pebble beaches: the stronger the sea, the more these beaches reshape themselves, forming a ridge that prevents water overflow.

The energy of the waves is absorbed by these “dynamic barriers” made of marble waste, which, although not completely eliminating the risk, significantly reduce the chances of flooding in the inland areas.

Monitoring and using these nature-based solutions as preventive measures against the impacts of climate change is the goal pursued locally along a specific stretch of the Tuscan coast by the Med-IREN project, a European coordination initiative that brings together natural processes and engineering developments to protect critical infrastructure from climate impacts.

Med-IREN is a joint initiative involving several European countries, including Italy, offering local administrators, academics, and civil society the opportunity to share experiences and best practices for addressing the specific challenges of their territories.
For years, coastal defense in Tuscany relied on rigid structures such as seawalls and breakwaters.

Only since the late 1990s have these hard protection measures been gradually replaced by natural coastal defense mechanisms that are also less visually intrusive on the landscape. In a circular approach, the project underway in Marina di Pisa uses recycled marble waste from the Carrara quarries as the main material for building these dynamic barriers, which can be periodically replenished. It also includes investment in an advanced monitoring network to enhance the prevention system, with the installation of wave buoys to measure sea motion, water level gauges to analyze coastal response to extreme weather events, and assessments of the long-term durability of marble gravel using GPS and webcam systems for real-time monitoring of coastal profile evolution.

In the long run, maintenance will be “strategic,” since the material used to absorb wave energy “is not hard, it remains soft, and therefore wears out over the years,” explained Lorenzo Cappietti, Associate Professor at the University of Florence, who, together with the Tuscany Region, has launched research on artificial gravel nourishment in areas affected by storm surges.

Alongside the University of Florence, the Tuscany Region, and the Municipality of Pisa, the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa is also part of the European team “working to find nature-based solutions to address the problem of storm surges,” recalled Marco Frey, coordinator of the Institute’s interdisciplinary center on sustainability and climate. These solutions will then be applied in other contexts beyond Italy.

Within the Med-IREN project, Tuscany is part of a network of five flagship regions in the Mediterranean area committed to developing climate adaptation strategies. The lessons learned will later be replicated in four other European regions to promote the dissemination of best practices in climate resilience. “It’s an important opportunity to share experiences and to benchmark ourselves with other European realities,” said Luigi Cipriani, a member of the regional expert team.

Since its launch a year ago, the Med-IREN consortium has completed its first coordination phase and is now moving into the second operational phase, focused on co-creation and real-world testing. Until 2028, Med-IREN will mobilize just over €10 million under the European Commission’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme.

#Med-IREN “Co-funded by the European Union. However, the views expressed belong solely to the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible.”