Current location of the construction sites and offices of the Linas Forestry complex, managed by the Forestas Agency.
History of the Mine
Numerous testimonies of buildings and structures still remain from the Canale Serci mine: the washing plant, some structures once used as miners' lodgings, the management building, currently renovated and used as offices by the Sardinia Forestry Agency (now Forestas), and numerous tunnels.
It is still difficult to determine when the mine was first opened and exploited. Certain testimonies speak of the presence of companies involved in mineral research at the site starting from 1860, but the discovery, in 1873, of short and rudimentary tunnels with piles of already excavated material and a considerable quantity of cassiterite, suggest that the site was already exploited in the Nuragic period.
From a 1913 report, it is evident that the permit holders show serious intentions to undertake work to reactivate the tunnels, rebuild "the dwelling house, and the building downstream [...] to be used as a warehouse and a room for tool repair…", to reactivate various processing plants and the cableway for transporting minerals.
It can also be deduced that industrial structures were already present in the locality previously. However, only in the early 1930s did research permits lead to actual mining activity, which, however, immediately raised problems with farmers who used the waters of the Leni river to irrigate fields. The waste waters from the washing plant were in fact discharged directly into the river and the farmers asked for the intervention of the head of government, Mussolini.
In 1945 the mine was still in operation and employed 151 workers 1 from Villacidro. It was closed the following year because its exploitation had become uneconomical."Attuale sede dei cantieri e degli uffici del complesso Forestale del Linas, gestito dall'Agenzia Forestas.
The Long Mining History of Linas
The alteration of landscapes is one of the strongest and most significant elements of the industrial-mining revolution that took place in Sardinia. Ancient woods were cut down to fuel the furnaces of the Mandel Foundry, which was located in the countryside near the Leni river. It is precisely this aspect that Dessì passionately addresses in his works, particularly in Country of Shadows and The Deserter, but also in many pages of his diaries and essays dedicated to Sardinia and Villacidro.
Villacidro boasts an important mining history, although it does not preserve visitable or restored sites. However, it is remarkably fascinating to look around and spot in the woods and countryside the ancient ruins and signs attributable to mining activity, such as the Canale Serci mine, nestled in the Monti Mannu woods, where the Forestas agency offices are located today, and the numerous survey galleries covered with vegetation and hidden among the trees. Well before the advent of the mining industry, the mountains of Villacidro were frequented by man and were both the site and source of important activities.
The mountain was, in the past more than ever, an expression of human life and activity, sometimes silent and secluded: the solitude and slowness of the charcoal burners, the long absences of the shepherds, the cutting of timber according to ancient rules of respect for the forest, the gathering of acorns, etc. Along the paths, the charcoal burners' pitches testify to an intense past activity, still visible and practiced although to a minimal extent; the ancient sheepfolds and shelters for timber tell of long absences and silences, far from families and the town. Walking through the woods and spotting the signs left by man gives a sense of slow, deep, and ancient time that offers profound suggestions.
