After initially undergoing rough crushing inside hydraulic crushers built within the tunnels, the extracted minerals were loaded onto small trains and, thanks to an ingenious system of inclined planes and counterweights necessary to overcome a height difference of 1200 meters, they arrived at the enrichment plant of Masseria, in Val Ridanna.
In the 1500s, at least a thousand people worked in the Monteneve mines and among those peaks, there was their village. A community with a school, chapel, and music band, established in such a inhospitable place where only chive grew, and grazing was possible for just a few months a year due to the harsh winter temperatures. It is said that during a particularly cold year, the snow at Monteneve reached a height of seven meters.
Still, the miners worked in the mine, which at least was warmer than outside. In fact, inside the tunnels, the temperature is constantly around 8°, but the humidity exceeds 95%!
A hard and dangerous life, that of the miners. Even today, many accidents occur worldwide in mines caused by collapses and flooding in tunnels. At Monteneve, there was also the risk of avalanches.
When mining work started to become unprofitable, entrepreneurs and deposit owners decided to abandon the extraction areas because “in mining activity it is more likely that ten become poor than one becomes rich.” Fortunately, the abandonment was not permanent, and after more than eight hundred years of history, the village, tunnels, and plants have become an extraordinary open-air museum, open to visitors during the summer period.
At the ancient Masseria enrichment plant, the Provincial Mine Museum caretakers have patiently collected and displayed the tools and historical relics of the Monteneve mining community, and to let everyone experience the thrill of the fascinating and dangerous life underground, they have organized excursions inside the mines.
A fascinating experience worth living, if only to realize how tough life is for that handful of men whom popular imagination too often associates with the tale of the seven dwarfs. Excursions range from the simplest, accessible even to children and the elderly, lasting a couple of hours, to one of eight hours, during which guides will lead us confidently through narrow tunnels and crossings of icy streams. You only need to be in good physical shape and above all… not suffer from claustrophobia.
