Museo Mineralogico Luigi Celleri

Museo MUM


Useful Information

Location: Via Camillo Benso Conte di Cavour, 73, San Piero In Campo.
Open: 15-MAR to15-APR Tue-Sun 15-19.
16-APR to MAY Tue-Sun 11:30-13:30, 14:30-18:30.
JUN to 15-SEP daily 10:30-13:30, 15:30-18:30, 20:30-22:30.
16-SEP to 02-NOV Tue-Sun 11:30-13:30, 14:30-18:30.
[2020]
Fee: Adults EUR 4.50, Reduced EUR 2.50.
[2020]
Classification: SubterraneaMining Museum
Light: LightIncandescent Electric Light System
Dimension:
Guided tours: for groups (5+) with reservation. Exhibition and various day and half day excursion to mineral sites in the area. Geology and mineralogy workshops.
Photography: allowed
Accessibility: no
Bibliography:
Address: Museo Mineralogico Luigi Celleri, Via Camillo Benso Conte di Cavour, 73, 57034 San Piero In Campo LI, Tel: +39-393-804-0990. 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

27-JAN-2014 museum named after Luigi Celleri.

Geology


Description

The Museo Mineralogico Luigi Celleri (Mineralogical Museum Luigi Celleri) was dedicated to Luigi Celleri (*1828-✝1900). He was born around 1828 in S.Piero in Campo (or probably S.Ilario), and he was a lowly day laborer living on small mason jobs for thirty years. But at one point his interest in the local minerals was sparked, and he decided to change his life. He became self employed mineral collector. He was interested in minerals, quite intelligent, and successful in finding valuable minerals. Collecting them all winter, he sold them to the famous scholars and intellectuals who frequented the Island of Elba in 1800s for its immense mineralogical wealth. As a result his name was mentioned by numerous famous men.

One of the major achievements was his work for the famous Foresi collection. He prepared the Foresi museum in Portoferraio built in 1873. This exhibition is not open to the public any more, the modern museum is dedicated to the book and art collection. Around 1875 he began working for Giorgio Roster and Bista Toscanelli. He discovered an extraordinary number of splendid specimens of tourmalines, beryls, pollucite, petalite, garnets, zeolites and other minerals in the location Grotta d’Oggi, Fonte del Prete, Facciatoia, Forcioni, and Prado. He lost this job unexpectedly after the early death of Bista Toscanelli. But after some time he was commissioned by Professor Antonio D'Achiardi to assist the new mineralogical museum at the Napoleonic villa of S. Martino. With the German Professor G. Von Rath, a mineralogist from the University of Bonn, he discovered the wollastonite in Cavoli and the "gommoid quartz" of Palombaia.

San Piero is located at the foot of Monte Capanne. The granite was mined in quarries since Roman times. But there are also pegmatitic rocks containing tourmaline (elbaite) and a wealth of other minerals. This are the main topics of the museum, to show those important minerals at the place of their origin. But they also have a collection of the important iron minerals from the east coast.