Mining Park of Elba Island
Three millennia of history form an invaluable geological, mineralogical and cultural heritage
The Elba Island Mining Park is a reclamation effort that aims to enhance areas degraded by iron mining. Created in 1991, the Park is based in Rio Marina and is an area of great scenic and cultural value, as well as representing an invaluable geological, mineralogical and historical heritage.
The visit begins in the Mining Museum, located inside the Palazzo del Burò in the center of Rio Marina. A valuable collection of Elban minerals is housed here, as well as several mine environments carefully reconstructed by the experts.
The Park includes two mineral deposits and numerous construction sites. The Rio Marina deposit is the oldest on Elba Island, known since the Etruscan-Roman period and exploited almost continuously until the industrial period. The Rio Albano deposit, although less well known, has been the subject of intense cultivation, especially in the first half of the 20th century.
Finding itself within the Tuscan Archipelago National Park, this area constitutes a true "park within a park", and visitors can choose to explore it on foot, by bicycle, on board a characteristic little train or off-road vehicle. This is a unique opportunity for a walk among the moonscapes of mines with unexpected colors, such as the small red lake with purplish reflections in the Conche Mining Area, or the Valle Give Mining Area, the largest on the island.
