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ELBA ISLAND Ex-Calamita Mines

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A series of steep descents, all leading to the sea, path that wind aimlessly through the scrub, dark, glistening boulders, vein-like formations in blue-green hues, a rugged coastline, breathtaking panoramas – these are the elements that make up the Vallone shipyard, the largest and oldest in Capoliveri.Starkly silhoutted against the backdrop of the sky, the incongrous geometric shapes thrown up by the old processing plant are a jarring reminder that we now live in an age quite different to that of when the mine was operational.At one point a relentless clamour will no doubt have reigned here, with workmen, machines and dust once inhabiting what has now become a particularly tranquil area in the heart of the Tuscan Archipelago’s National Park.The Vallone was the open-air construction site of the Capoliveri mine, openly bearing the scars inflicted by a millennium of continous operation.In a way, it can be likened to the wrinkles in the faces of its former quarrymen who, once the day’s work was over, tended to contemplate the sea.Any traces that remain are likely to belong to the recent past; the last machines were operational up until 1981, after which all mines across Elba were shut down.By that period, modern excavation techniques, with its considerable use of explosives, had completely erased any trace of minerals the island once contained.Even so, it is not hard to imagine that the Etruscans and Romans had managed, in their time, to obtain substantial quantities of Hematite, Limonite and Pyrite and that, perhaps, even further back in history, early miners had succefully ventured here in search of copper, a metal the region contained in abundance. (www.minieredicalamita.it)