Monteponi, the queen of the Sardinia's mines

Monteponi (Iglesias), together with Montevecchio, is one of the most important mines of Italy, without any the main of Sardinia. The Phoenicians and the Punics (probably even the nuraghic peoples) located mineral veins and the Romans were mainly interested in lead (to produce plumbings). It is due to the Pisans the first industrial exploiting certified in that locality which once was indicated with the toponym of Monte Paone.

With the passage of centuries (and of the entrepreneurs who acquired the property) the foundries to work the extracted materials were built all around the area and up to Villacidro. After the critical period gone through between the end of the eighteenth century and the first half of the nineteenth century the Hungarian entrepreneur Giulio Keller gave a new viability to the mine of Iglesias. But it was with the accession to the company presidency of the count Carlo Baudi diVesme that the exploiting area was enormously enlarged with the annexation of the mining sites known with the name of Campo Pisano and Pozzo San Giorgio.

Above all it has been exploited for the extraction of lead, zinc and silver. We suggest to visit the building Bellavista (since 1865 held the management offices, and today it is a university), the mine pits of Quintino Sella and Vittorio Emanuele, and the laverie (the places where the untreated materials were washed). Some buildings, among which the imposing one, where the metals electrolysis were carried out, have been radically restructured to be used as accommodating facilities and as congress centers. Even the Pope John Paul II wanted to visit the site and that is the reason why he went with the minors down in the pits at a level of -200 meters, a little more than its global depth.

On the plateau of the San Giorgio is the homonymous mine: very beautiful is the pit dedicated to Santa Barbara and renamed “sa macchina beccia” (the old machine) built in 1980 and really similar to a medieval castle, as if it was integrated – from an architectural point of view – with the hundreds ancient Pisan pits scattered in the surrounding area.