This site, of great historical-mining value, partly managed by a private individual, is an intermediate stop on the D-315 trail that connects Monte Scorra to Funtana Coperta.
Baccarini Shaft and the Iglesiente in the 19th Century
The Risorgimento period for the Iglesiente and the entire Sardinia was undoubtedly one of the most important from an industrial, social, economic, and cultural point of view. In an Italian context still fragmented from a geographical and political point of view but with strong patriotic and nationalist values, the Iglesiente was in full industrial ferment, due to the large mineralized masses present in this ancient territory. Since 1850, the entire territory underwent a radical transformation from all points of view: the mine became an institution capable of giving a salary, a roof to live under, an education and health care, but simultaneously freedom, health and life.
The Iglesiente in those years reached a well-being and an industrialization that the newly unified, proletarian and agricultural-oriented Italy conquered only in the early twentieth century, and not throughout its national territory. The first examples of electrification, the first telephone lines, the use of dynamite, the construction of the first railway lines and the construction of buildings with sublime architecture date back to this period.
Icon of the Mining Past
The mining site called Pozzo Baccarini contains within it part of this mining history, remembered as a heroic period due to the great challenges that the man of those years had to face to tame the whims of nature. The site is strongly linked to the glorious history of the Monteponi Company which, from 1850, took over the Royal Mine of Monteponi. This company immediately had to face the problems related to the geomorphology of a territory modeled by the most ancient orogenesis, both on the surface and underground. One of the main problems was the poor road network to the embarkation points, the existing mule tracks were not able to support such intense traffic, hence the need to build a railway line capable of transporting large quantities of ore in a short time, in any weather condition.
Inside the site, thanks to the presence of a small section of railway line and the first railway tunnel in Sardinia, it will be possible to retrace the history of this very important railway also with the help of some period images.
Another age-old problem was the massive presence of water in the bowels of the earth: the Cambrian limestones were rich in it and conditioned the cultivation of mineralized masses in the levels below +80 meters above sea level. During the visit it will be possible to discover and see how the Monteponi Company, thanks to the construction of the Pozzo Baccarini and the pharaonic drainage tunnel, managed to solve this problem, using the greatest technologies present in those years. Furthermore, it will also be possible to visit a small botanical path, a series of archaic dwellings (cuili or pinettasa) and an example of a tunnel with wooden armor.
For information and guided tours, call 3282890512
