Garden House Lazzerini – Holidays
Surroundings

Duration of the visit 40 minutes

Before equipping yourself with the provided equipment, the route in the Mine of Temperino is preceded by an area with displays that show the evolution of the mining industry of the Campigliese, from Etruscan times to the present day. The visitable tunnel, 360 m. long, is one of the few where it is still possible to compare the ancient extractive methods with the modern ones. Equipped with helmets and coloured raincoats, once inside the mine visitors discover a broad range of rocks and minerals from the metalliferous reserves of the Campigliese and the traces of the work of the miners, a memory of the fatigue and harshness of a profession which has now almost disappeared.

Duration of the visit 15 minutes

Housed in the service building of the Earle Shaft, the only surviving of the 5 mining shafts which were located in the area of the Campigliese at the beginning of the last century. This building housed the winch which, in the last stage of the life of the mines, transported the miners to a depth of up to 170 metres. Today the Museum with its storyboards inside and outside, tells the story of the usage of the various pieces of machinery belonging to the last stages of activity remaining where they were abandoned on the last day the mine was open.

Duration of the visit 15 minutes

Leaving the Mining Machinery Museum after a short walk, the visitor arrives at the entrance to the Lanzi – Temperino tunnel and the “Morteo”, or the metal “shed” used by the miners as a changing room and canteen. This building today is dedicated to the miners, with a collection of old photos and documents which tell of their lives, their work, the illnesses and the trade union struggles to prevent the closure of the mine. The harshness of this noble trade is told in a video by the miner Duma to the visitors who, seated on the benches where in days of old the meals were eaten before returning to work, can listen for a few minutes.

Duration of the visit 50 minutes

The direct Lanzi-Temperino Tunnel (ex Ortaccio) was started as mining prospecting in the second half of the 1800s. It was then completed by the Mining Company of Campiglia Marittima Spa in the 1960s as a haulage tunnel for the transport of minerals from the extraction shaft to the crushing and flotation installations of the Lanzi Valley. The minerals were transported on mine-cars along narrow-gauge tracks. The same journey the minerals took in those days can be taken today by the visitors who, aboard the train running through the tunnel, can reach the Lanzi Valley and Rocca San Silvestro. Inside the tunnel, the working tools, the shapes and colours of the minerals and a picturesque stop in the grand central extraction room will take the visitors on a discovery of an extraordinary underground world.

Duration of the visit 40 minutes

Rocca San Silvestro, a medieval village of miners and smiths, was founded by village lords between the tenth and eleventh centuries in order to exploit the abundant local deposits of copper and silver-bearing lead ore. The metals were to be used for coin production (“zecche toscane”) principally in the mints of Lucca and Pisa; the village lords enjoyed close commercial relations with these cities during the period. In medieval times this village was known by the name of Rocca a Palmento (a millstone, or “palmentum”, has been discovered in the oil press below the church) and owes its present name to the saint to whom the church was dedicated. The village was abandoned during the course of the fourteenth century as a consequence of a variety of factors which were principally economic and connected with a change in the system of resource management. The visitor follows an itinerary designed to show the social and economic organisation, the eating habits, the building and metallurgical techniques of a medieval community. Access to the Rock is possible following a path suitable with trainers or walking boots. Time necessary from Lanzi Valley to Rocca San Silvestro around 20 minutes

Duration 1 hour (easy)

A route between woods and glades that connects the park entrance with Campiglia Marittima. Passing through the remains of the 19th-century aqueduct and the springs that until recently supplied Campiglia, you arrive in the historic town center of this millennial village, dominated by the Rocca Medioevale.

Duration 20 minutes (easy)

This takes the visitor from the exit of the Temperino Mine back to the Museums, in part retracing the route taken by the railway which transported metal ore in the early years of this century. It illustrates the main phases of mineral exploitation in the area – mine shafts, tunnels, and waste left behind by centuries of mining activity.

Duration 1 hour (challenging)

It is the path for access to the castle of Rocca San Silvestro. It ends in the Valle dei Manienti, at a medieval mine built by the inhabitants of the castle. Close to the mine there are remains of ancient marble quarries. Of particular interest is the natural aspect of the path, that keeps a dense vegetation with traditional plants.

Duration 1 hour e 10 minutes (challenging)

This path leads from the Temperino Mine exit to the washing plant of the Lanzi valley. Winding along the line of metalliferous veins, it takes in the main archaeological and mining features of the area which are visible at the surface, including the entrances to medieval and more ancient mines, the impressive opencast quarries, the remains of extraction shafts and tunnels. The dominant colours to be seen along the route are the yellows and reds of the by now abundant slag half hidden by the luxuriant vegetation of the Mediterranean scrub

Duration 1 hour e 10 minutes (moderate)

It is a ring walk that starts and ends in the Laverie of Valle dei Lanzi. Following this valley you will pass through the springs of medieval extraction, the Medicean operations and the large installations of the English mining company Etruscan Mines. Its name is a reminder of the mining workers of the 16th century; German miners were called “i Lanzi”.