Mining activity in the territory of Villasalto started in 1858 in the mining district of ''Su Suergiu''. The miners' village consists of several low housing blocks, dominated by the Management building, built in the early years of the 20th century in Art Nouveau style, and today home to the museum.
The exhibition of the key materials and equipment required by mining activity, offers visitors a faithful reconstruction of the complex production processes covering all their closely intertwined phases. The visit provides details on the development of ore extraction and processing methods and techniques, but also throws light on the daily lives and toil of the men, women and children who laboured in the mines.
The museum has a display area, divided into sections, with a collection of the rocks and minerals from the underground and the miner's work tools, ranging from personal gear to the machinery used inside the mines. Only a few examples remain of the delicate instruments that were used in the important chemical laboratory. On the building's first floor is the mine manager's home, with spacious rooms and a terrace commanding fine views of the Gennargentu peaks, the extensive swathes of forest and the thick Mediterranean maquis mantling the landscape of the Sarrabus-Gerrei. The museum is made especially interesting and informative as it reconstructs mining history at Su Suergiu, whose ore resources were already known in the Phoenician-Punic period.
Address: località Su Suergiu - 09040 Villasalto Phone +39 070 5435109 - 329 3625017 Managing Agency: Municipality of Villasalto
