La Spezia Naval Base (Arsenale di La Spezia)

La Spezia Naval Base (Arsenale Militare Marittimo di La Spezia) is an Italian Navy installation on the central-western shore of the Gulf of La Spezia, adjacent to the historic centre of La Spezia, on the Ligurian Sea coast of northern Italy. It is owned by the Italian Ministry of Defence and operated by the Italian Navy.

The garrison comprises the 1st Naval Division, the Mine Countermeasures Forces Command and the Auxiliary Ships Command. Homeported units include Maestrale-class frigates of the 2nd Squadron, the replenishment ship Vesuvio, Lerici-class minehunters assigned to the mine countermeasures command, and the multipurpose support ship Elettra. The Italian Navy's special forces were raised at La Spezia and remain stationed there. Personnel strength is roughly 1,000 civilian and 200 military employees.

The base covers close to 85 hectares and contains about 13 kilometres of internal roads, with the layout still following the nineteenth-century arsenal plan. Docks and shipyard facilities support fleet maintenance and repair. Nuclear-powered submarines have berthed at the outer breakwater (diga foranea).

The end of the Cold War shifted Italian naval priorities toward the southern Mediterranean, and La Spezia declined in importance relative to Taranto and Augusta. The site is overlooked by housing along its perimeter and by the hills on the western side of the gulf, and it is regarded as exposed to air attack. Following the closure of the recruit training centre, activities and personnel have been reduced and parts of the base are disused. An investigation opened in 2004 into an illegal dump of toxic material, including asbestos insulation and batteries containing lead, cadmium and depleted uranium, in the campo in ferro area near the shoreline; part of the waste has been removed and the remainder covered with plastic sheeting. Deposits of hydrocarbons, zinc, mercury and heavy metals have been recorded in the bed of the adjacent Lagora canal. The arsenal occupies land on the western side of the gulf, cutting Fabiano, Marola and Cadimare off from or restricting their access to the sea and constraining the city's westward expansion.

Napoleon Bonaparte first proposed a great arsenal in the Gulf of Spezia; the project was revived in 1857 by Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, who secured funding and entrusted construction to Domenico Chiodo of the Military Engineers. Work ran from 1862 to 28 August 1869, when Chiodo inaugurated the yard by flooding the new docks. Allied bombing in the Second World War left the base almost entirely destroyed; it was rebuilt to full operation in the postwar years.