From the Rio Marina Mineralogical Museum it is possible to visit the Rio Marina open-air Mining Park, the oldest mine on the Island of Elba. Along the way you will be able to see different mineralogical species and the various mining equipment used inside the mine.
The mine has a great scientific and historical value and, crossing the suggestive construction sites characterized by "lunar" landscapes, magical colors and the remains of old processing plants, it allows you to discover an area of enormous landscape and cultural importance. The minerals mostly found in the mine are hematite and pyrite, but other minerals such as quartz, elbaite, goethite and white and green marbles have also been recovered.
In Rio Elba you will find the PUBLIC LAUNDRY of Rio nell'Elba, located inside a building with a trussed ceiling and large windows, near the Fonte dei Canali, from which it is fed, a place of socialization for women who often met together with do the laundry. Once upon a time even the miners, returning from work, stopped here to wash themselves before returning home.
Heading towards Rio Marina you can cross via Panoramica del Porticciolo, up to the Torre degli Appiani to arrive at the entrance to the Rio Marina Mining Museum inside the Palazzo del Burò, a prestigious location that once housed the Elba Mines Directorate .
Inside the same building there is the historical archive of the mines which preserves papers and documents concerning the Elban mining compendium. The museum preserves an important collection of Elba minerals of exceptional beauty displayed in the large main hall and representative of the geo-mineralogical heritage of the Island of Elba. In the other rooms, some mine environments are recreated. Shooting towards loc. Vigneria, to start the tour of the Open Sky Mining Park, born in 1991 with the aim of reconverting the areas degraded by the extraction of iron.
It is an area of enormous cultural and landscape importance, characterized by suggestive “lunar landscapes”, blood red and ocher yellow colors and by the presence of the remains of old processing plants. Valle Giove, Cantiere del Bacino, Laghetto delle Conche are the main attractions, without neglecting the unique beauty of the landscape and the views on the east coast of Elba.
