Museo civico archeologico del Distretto minerario di Rio nell’Elba

Archaeological museum of eastern Elba on the island's mining and metallurgical history, from prehistory to the Middle Ages, with a collection of Elban minerals.

Opening hoursAdmission €8

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About the museum

The museum, founded in 2003, occupies a recently built building known in Rio as the “Barcocaio”, after the local dialect name for the apricot trees that once grew on the site. The collection is displayed in a large hall with panoramic views over the hills that supplied iron ore for more than two millennia; the tall metal display cases, with their rusty look, echo the reddish colour of the soil.

The route traces the history of eastern Elba, where the mineral deposits are concentrated, in relation to metallurgical activity: from the Late Copper Age through the Etruscan and Roman periods to the late Middle Ages. Among the items displayed are finds from the San Bennato ironworks complex, Eneolithic grave goods from the Grotta di San Giuseppe, bronze objects from the 19th-century collection of Raffaello Foresi and material from the Buraccio necropolis.

Since 2008 the museum has also housed the “Collezione della Gente di Rio”, some 200 mineral samples donated by miners and their families, which illustrate the island’s geology and the hard life in the mines. The museum is run by the Parco Minerario dell’Isola d’Elba.

Highlights

Finds from the San Bennato ironworks complex
Eneolithic grave goods from the Grotta di San Giuseppe
Bronzes from the 19th-century Raffaello Foresi collection
Some 200 Elban minerals from the “Collezione della Gente di Rio”
Display cases in rusted metal with panoramic views over the mining hills

Permanent exhibitions

Percorso archeologico del Distretto minerario – History of eastern Elba from the Late Copper Age to the late Middle Ages, linked to the exploitation of iron and copper deposits.
Collezione della Gente di Rio – Some 200 Elban mineral samples donated by miners and families, with explanations of the island’s geology.

Founded: 2003
Operated by: Comune di Rio; gestione Parco Minerario dell’Isola d’Elba S.r.l.