Places in Fluminimaggiore, Sardinia

When describing the mining region, the first thing to do is clarifying one main point. The landscape is not industrial, nor irritatingly boring and bare. For three main reasons: firstly, when the mines were conceived the mining technique was mainly based on wells and tunnels; secondly, the mines were at the peak of their production before and during World War II, so that when the last mine closed in 1995, no major investments had been done for years; finally, buildings and equipments were not demolished or destroyed but abandoned.

All this means that the surrounding hills have not been flatten out, vegetation is luxuriant and the life in the mine can be easily imagined by looking at the ruins. Actually, the local government has pushed to revaluate this area by organizing events and by instituting the geo-mineral regional park.

The main city in this huge area is Carbonia (carbone is the Italian name for coal), built from scratch in 1937 and officially inaugurated in 1938 by Mussolini with a short speech from the city tower. Today there are only a couple of mines still open but the production has stopped.

The mining region is quite large, spreading across the provinces of Sulcis-Iglesiente and Medio Campidano. Mines and wells are scattered pretty much throughout the whole territory but the highest concentration is from the town of Iglesias (mines of Monteponi, Bindua and San Giovanni) towards the coast (Nebida and Masua) and moving north along the road to Buggerru (Montecani and Acquaresi).

In the province of Medio Campidano you should go straight to Ingurtosu and Montevecchio, in the valley just north of Arbus. Right in the centre of the mining area is the town of Fluminimaggiore. Here we suggest a different itinerary combining different kind of attractions.

If you drive from Fluminimaggiore southward on the route SS 126, you will see the mines of su Zurfuru on your left, very close to the town. Keep driving for another 2 km and you will find directions to the grottos of su Mannau, which are just 2 minutes away from the junction.

Back on the SS 126 keep driving for about 5 km until you get to the junction leading to the temple of Antas. This is the most well preserved temple in the whole of Sardinia, dated 500 BC. Back again on the SS 126, you will get to the small village of Sant'Angelo.

Here you must be careful and take the dirt road on the right, at the entrance of the village. Drive for another 400 metres and turn right onto another dirt road. From here onwards there are no more junctions and the road will take you deep in to the countryside through uncontaminated landscapes.

You will get to the old village of Grugua and from there the road winds up through gorges until you finally get to Cala Domestica, the most beautiful beach of the area. All this in less than 40 km.