Historical background
Geologically, the Scalve Valley fits into the Orobian Pre-Alps orographic complex, rich in mineral deposits especially of iron, but also many other minerals such as barite, copper, lead, zinc and fluorite.
In the economy and in the lives of the inhabitants of the Scalve Valley, the iron mines located a few kilometers from Schilpario, along the route up to the Passo dei Campelli and the Passo del Vivione, have been of great importance in the past.
The exploitation of the Scalve Valley’s mineral resources is presumed to have begun in 300 B.C. From some customs documents it appears that the Scalvini traded five tons of iron per year (year 1000).
For centuries, the excavation and processing of the ore was entrusted to consortia of small owners: work in the mines was then extremely hard because of the inhumane conditions in which hundreds of men and even teenagers worked; when, in the early 1930s, companies such as Ilva, Breda, and Falck took over, modern technologies were introduced and intensive exploitation of the deposits began until 1972, when the scalvine mines ceased operations because they had become uneconomic.
The mining activity was complemented by that of the two smelting furnaces, one in Schilpario and one in Dezzo (which also processed ore from the Manina mines): from them there was considerable production of tools and, at the time of Venetian rule, weapons.
Exhibition criteria – Visiting itinerary
In the Ethnographic Museum of Schilpario, in a small side room in the basement, a section bears witness to the mine’s activity with photographs, captions and some tools for digging and transporting ore.
But the human and palpable presence of mine life is fully documented, and exciting for us today, by the‘Ing. Andrea Bonicelli‘ Mining Park, inaugurated in June 1998: this is a real Mining Museum, opened inside the gallery called ‘Gaffione,’ with a route that, in its first phase, runs 2 km by train and 1 km on foot.
The mouth of the tunnel is located at Gaffione, at 1244 m.
altitude, about 4 km. beyond Schilpario, just below the mining village of Fondi with the small church dedicated to St. Barbara.
This museum trail was created thanks to an initiative born in 1997 and implemented within a year, by a group of local enthusiasts formed in the ‘Ski-Mine Cooperative’ of Schilpario, with the intent of reviving a now vanished world marked by the hard work of several generations.
The visit to the museum is made by delving into the bowels of the mountain with an expert guide who explains the type of mine, the methods of excavation, transportation, and processing of the ore, mostly siderite and hematite; one proceeds in the darkness of the gallery, broken, from time to time, by spotlights powered by a generator, a lighting system for visitors that replaces the old acetylene lamps of the miners.
Excavation proceeded with archaic methods and tools: digging from a barren gallery, the ‘vein’ was found and the ‘mining’ of ore was begun.
‘Chimneys’ to follow the ‘vein’ and ‘sinkholes’ to unload the ferrous material that was to be started towards the exit are still present.
In the past, after an initial sorting, the ore was carried outside in small panniers (a few of which are preserved) by the ‘purtì’, 12- to 13-year-old boys who were used because of their limited stature; only later were wagons introduced to transport the ore, which was accumulated outside the mine from where, with special sleds (‘lese’), it was dragged downstream by the ‘strusì’: some of the wagons are preserved at the mine entrance and inside the tunnel, where the relevant tracks still exist.
Testifying to the mining wealth of the Scalve Valley, two sections, linked to both the Mining Museum and the Ethnographic Museum, preserve minerals of all kinds, mostly from the area.
The sections are based, one in the nearby hamlet of Pradella, at the S.Marco hotel, the other in Schilpario in Via Padre Maj, at the historic Palazzo Gregori granted on free loan to the municipality by the current owner, to be used for temporary exhibitions.
Both locations have modern showcases with mineral exhibits ranging from iron minerals (siderite, pyrite, hematite) to copper minerals (malachite, azurite, chalcopyrite), from barite formations to aragonite crystals: it’s all a fascinating world of shapes and colors that adds to the historical and environmental heritage of the Scalve Valley.
AdmissionA feeProvided reductions.
Visiting informationPossibility of educational workshops for school groups.