Museo delle Miniere di Capoliveri

Miniere Calamita - Miniera di Calamita - Calamita Mine - Miniera di Punta Ginepro - La galleria del Ginevro

Useful Information

Location:	6 km from Capoliveri on southern side of Monte Calamita. Follow Via Luperini
Open:	Museum: 01-JUN to 23-JUN daily 10-15. 23-JUN ti 10-SEP daily 10-17. 11-SEP to SEP daily 10-17. Tour 1: 01-JUN to 23-JUN daily 10:30, 14:30. 23-JUN ti 10-SEP daily 10:30, 11:30, 15:30. 11-SEP to SEP daily 10:30, 14:30. Tour 2: 01-JUN to 23-JUN daily 11:30. 23-JUN ti 10-SEP daily 12:30, 14:30. 11-SEP to SEP daily 11:30. Additional singular open days in APR, MAY, OCT, NOV see timetable on website. [2020]
Fee:	Museum: Adults EUR 2.50, Children EUR 1.50. Tour 1: Adults EUR 18, Children (4-12) EUR 12, Children (0-3) free, Locals EUR 10. Groups (10+): Adults EUR 16, Children (4-12) EUR 11, with reservation. Tour 2: Adults EUR 24, Children (12-18) EUR 18, Children (0-11) not allowed, Locals EUR 18. Groups (10+): Adults EUR 22, Children (4-12) EUR 17, with reservation. Tours include museum. [2020]
Classification:	Iron Mine
Light:	Incandescent Electric Light System
Dimension:	L=7,000 m, lowest point -54 m asl., T=18 °C.
Guided tours:	Museum: self guided. Tour 1: L=1,000 m, VR=0 m, D=50 min. Tour 2: L=1,000 m, VR=30 m, D=50 min.
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	Museum: yes. Tour 1: yes. Tour 2: no.
Bibliography:
Address:	Museo delle Miniere di Capoliveri, Via Calamita, 57031 Capoliveri LI, Tel: +39-0565-935492. Galleria Del Ginevro, Località Naregno, 57031 Capoliveri LI, Tel: +39-0565-935492, Mobile: +39-393-90-59. E-mail: E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1981	Miniera di Calamita closed.

Geology

Description

The Miniera di Calamita (Calamita Mine) is located at at the Monte Calamita on the southern side. On the west side of the mountain is a road which leads to the mines, the first 2 km are paved, the rest is gravel road. This road offers quite spectacular views. First you reach the workshops with the ticket office. The Museo della Vecchia Officina is located in the offices of the Cantiere Vallone. It has numerous exhibits like tools and machinery, maps of the mines, old documents and photographs. There is a piknik area and a huge parking lot.

The Miniera di Calamita is actually on the other side of the road higher up the mountain. There are numerous slack heaps, the same in front of the museum. A single lane road winds down to the harbour where the iron was loaded on ships. There is a short trail, but most of the harbour buildings are destroyed.

The underground tours take place in the Miniera del Ginevro, which is located 5 km to the east. Visitors are driven there by shuttles. The mine once hat 7 km of tunnels and reached 54 m below the sea level. The ore here was high grade magnetite. The tour 1 is entering a mine tunnel which is lit by electric light and where a lot of machinery is on display. Tour 2 is a little closer to the original miners feeling: walking down a long staircase a tunnel 24 m below sea level is reached. This part of the mine has no electric light, the visitors get helmets with miner lamps. And here you can actually see the ore body. This ore body is far from being exhausted, it is currently considered a strategic iron reserve by the Italian state. There are still millions of tons high grade magnetite ore. On both tours you can get a nice view of the mineral loading and treatment plants which are located inside the huge open cast.

The mine also offers guided trekking tours with mineral collecting. There are full day and half day excursions. On those walk you can collect magnetite, pyrite, hematite and limonite which are the main ores. But there are also the copper minerals azurite, chrysocol and malachite. And there there are non-metal minerals like ilvaite, garnet, calcite and aragonite. Mindat.org lists 96 minerals for the Capoliveri mines. However, those tours are only for groups after appointment. A hat and sun protection are recommended.