miniera

A miniera is a former mine, and in the Maremma they are everywhere: lignite, iron, copper, mercury or alum mines, most of them closed between the 1950s and 1980s. You come across them on the slopes of Colline Metallifere or around Massa Marittima, as gaping galleries, rusted building shells, and spoil heaps that the scrub has reclaimed. Don't expect a museum: some are secured, others not at all. Never go into a gallery alone, and respect the fencing. What makes them worth the detour is the human and geological landscape they tell the story of: you'll understand why these villages are perched up high, why the earth is so colorful, and why the local economy shifted in a single century.