Miniera di Funtana Raminosa
Former copper mine of the Sardinian geomining park, an open-air and underground museum visitable by reservation, with former miners as guides.
Have only individual sections read aloud
About the museum
Funtana Raminosa is one of the richest copper deposits in Europe and one of the eight areas of the Parco geominerario storico e ambientale della Sardegna (Sardinia Geomining Park), recognised within the UNESCO Global Geoparks network. The site, about ten kilometres from Gadoni, played an important role in Mediterranean metallurgy from prehistoric times: after the Nuragic people it was exploited by the Phoenicians and Carthaginians and then by the Romans, and two of the roughly 150 galleries still recall these periods, the Phoenician and the Roman.
Concessions were granted to the Spaniard Pietro Xinto in 1517. In the 20th century operations were organised with a French company, which started the mechanical washing plant in 1920 and, in 1936, built a mining village with a school, a clinic, a shop and a chapel dedicated to Saint Barbara. Until the 1960s around three hundred people worked there.
The mine closed in 1983, after nineteen miners had occupied the shafts and remained there for twenty days at a depth of 400 metres. Since 2020 the site has been open to the public, and former miners accompany visitors, wearing helmets, through extraction works, gallery sections, open-cast excavations, the washing plant preserved as it was on its last working day, the cableway, small railway trains and numerous tools.
Highlights
- Guided visit led by former miners
- Underground galleries, including the Phoenician and the Roman
- Washing plant preserved as it was on its last working day
- Cableway, small trains, mechanical shovels and drills
- Mining village with the chapel of Saint Barbara
Permanent exhibition
- Museo all’aperto e sotterraneo della miniera – Guided route through galleries, the washing plant, the cableway and the original machinery of the copper mine that closed in 1983.
- Operated by
- Comune di Gadoni (visite organizzate da Gadoni Turismo)
- Visitors per year
- approx. 680
Admission & discounts
The museum hasn’t published any information on this.
Accessibility
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Kids & families
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Getting there & parking
The site is about 10 km from Gadoni, on the municipal road Gadoni–Funtana Raminosa.
Get directionsAmenities & dining
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Events & venue rental
The museum hasn’t published any information on this.
Plan your visit
| Guided tours | yes |
|---|---|
| Good to know | Access is only with a guide; the guides are former miners. Visitors wear a helmet. Before the visit, participants must register on the Gadoni Turismo website. |