No fewer than 113 of the 165 abandoned mines across the entire island are located here, between cliffs and a turquoise sea, silent witnesses of an era when lead, zinc, tin, copper, iron, silver, and, of course, coal were extracted.
Today, the Park presents itself as a tourist and environmental mine, offering several visiting routes, among which, Mines in the Blue, a trail perched above the sea, about 10 kilometers long, connecting the small village of Masua to Cala Domestica, within the Gulf of Leone.
In Masua, the traces of the mining past are visible everywhere, from the cluster of houses carved between sea and cliffs to the remains of the Calligaris Mine, with rusted yellow carts, former workers’ buildings, abandoned tracks, the Museum of Mining Machinery.
The trail, unfolding at altitude, offers an incredible view of the massive light limestone rock, called Pan di Zucchero, as tall as a 40-story building, around which there is a peaceful coming and going of inflatables and motorboats with divers and tourists eager to admire the entrance to the Porto Flavia mine, almost opposite, inside the cliff.
An architectural jewel from 1924, with its littorio-style tower and two superimposed tunnels 600 meters long, which allowed transporting the extracted material to the ships, the small boats, waiting just below the cliff, to sail towards Carloforte, on the Island of San Pietro.
