Industrial Archeology Ecomuseum of Bivongi

The Ecomuseum of Ironworks and Foundries of Calabria is a project by ACAI (Calabrian Association of Industrial Archaeology, based in Bivongi) founded in 1982. The purpose of the project is research, study, safeguarding, and cultural promotion of the heritage of Calabrian industrial archaeology, particularly that existing in the Stilaro valley, defined as the “cradle of the first southern industrialization.” The ecomuseum has been operating for several years in the municipal territory of Bivongi to recover and restore: An ancient mine entrance; A hydroelectric power plant from 1913; Two hydraulic mills; An ancient tannery, formerly Fieramosca ironworks; A guesthouse, annexed to a thermal establishment. Other initiatives: the “Museum of Industrial Archaeology and Material Culture,” the first of its kind in Southern Italy, is already active in a space located in the former Basilian convent “San Giovanni Theresti” in Stilo, and in collaboration with the Municipal Administration of Pazzano, the creation of a museum of “Mining Culture”..