In the Scalve valley in the foothills of the Italian Alps iron ore had been mined for two millennia. Mining expanded under the Republic of Venice. It was modernised in the 1930s and ended in 1972. The Schilpario Mine, in a park named after mining engineer Andrea Bocelli, is preserved by the Ski-Mine cooperative, which was set up by enthusiasts in 1997 to present mining heritage.
All visits are by guided tours booked in advance. Trains carry visitors 200 m to the heart of the mountain and they walk 1 km back to the surface, seeing photographs, tools and equipment and flooded caverns. A museum of lighting includes examples of 2,000 lamps.
In 2008, Ski-Mine bought the nearby Lupi mine in Valbondione and the iron furnace of Fusorio at Gavazzo. Later they took on Marzoli Mine in Pezzaze and the Sant'Aloisio Mine in Collio and in 2016 the Gambatesa Mine in the province of Genoa.
Schilpario Mine
Miniera Schilpario
Località Gaffione
24020 Schilpario
Italy
+39 (0) 339 - 6055118
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