Photo: Marcuscalabresus · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Ecomuseo delle ferriere e fonderie di Calabria

Project of the ACAI, based in Bivongi, to protect and promote the ironworks, mines and mills of the Stilaro valley, cradle of Southern Italy's first industrialisation.

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About the museum

The Ecomuseo delle ferriere e fonderie di Calabria is a project of the Associazione Calabrese di Archeologia Industriale (Calabrian Association of Industrial Archaeology, ACAI), based in Bivongi and launched in 1982. Its aim is to research, study, protect and promote Calabria's industrial archaeology heritage, especially in the Stilaro valley, regarded as the cradle of the first industrialisation of the Mezzogiorno (southern Italy).

The subsoil, rich in iron and molybdenum, encouraged the rise of ironworks, foundries and mining villages: between the 16th and 19th centuries, technicians and entrepreneurs arrived from France, Belgium, Austria, Spain and from northern and central Italy.

The ecomuseum is spread across the territory, divided into five areas (the forest area of Stilo and areas linked to Mongiana, Fabrizia, Serra San Bruno, Bivongi, Pazzano, Stilo and Monasterace), and offers four routes: water and metallurgy (Marmarico waterfall, Fonderia Ferdinandea, hydroelectric power stations, Ziia village), mines (Monte Stella cave and hermitage), and mills and religious heritage (Cattolica di Stilo, Norman castle, monastery of San Giovanni Theristis). The ecomuseum has no official recognition from the Region of Calabria and is run as a cultural association.