Metalliferous Hills

The Metalliferous Hills (Colline Metallifere in Italian) separates the region Maremme from the Gulf of Follonica to the depths of Tuscany, partly in an area designated as the Alta Maremma, and is adjacent to the lands of Pisa and Siena.

See also at the end of page Tourist Map of Metalliferous Hills

Presentation

The Metalliferous Hills have their own personality, having lived long time thanks to the exploitation of metals including silver and copper until 1990, but also iron, lead, zinc, mercury, pyrite (still extracted) and gems.
Exploitation began in the copper age with the extraction of jasper, then developed in the Iron Age with the Etruscans (their cities of Populonia and Vetulonia), then the Romans, and in the middle-ages these wealth made a very disputed territory and Massa Marittima enriched itself with these activities.
The Gavorrano Mining Park offers a beautiful glimpse into the life of mines and miners.
Massa Marittima is considered as its capital, gateway to the hills and also city of the Maremma. It is the most charming destination of these hills.
The rest of the hills have natural parks including the Biancane Natural Park with their geothermal phenomena, authentic villages like Suvereto and Montieri. On the agricultural side, the hills produce olives from which a local olive oil is extracted; vines from which the Monteregio di Massa Marittima DOC is made, from native varieties Sangiovese, Trebbiano toscan and Vermentino, and others; the famous Chestnut of Montieri; The Maremma onion.

Metalliferous Hills National Park

The Grosseto Metalliferous Hills National Park (Parco Nazionale delle Colline Metallifere Grossetane in Italian), located in Gavorrano, is one of UNESCO’s geoparks, created in 2003 to preserve the region’s ancient history and metallurgical activities.
It has 34 mining sites and various sites of interest, a varied heritage that can be discovered along the paths of industrial archaeology.

Other Mining Museums

Around the Metalliferous Hills, there are several «entrance doors» to the park, such as the MAGMA museum of the arts of the Maremma cast in Follonica, the mine museum in Massa Marittima, the GeoMuseum delle Biancane in Moterotondo Marittimo, or the Portus Scabris Archaeological Museum in Scarlino.
There are several information centres in the park: in Gavorrano, in Ribolla, and in Gerfalco.

Massa Maritima, capital of the Metalliferous Hills

Massa Marittima is a beautiful medieval town, whose Piazza Garibaldi is nice with the remarkable cathedral, palace, walls, towers, the curious Fountain of Abundance, etc.
→ See the page on Massa Marittima

Suvereto

On a hill bordering the Metalliferous Hills, the old village of Suvereto has kept part of its medieval walls protecting its cobbled streets and stone houses. Its church of San Giusto was built in the late 12th century, the municipal palace of the 13th century has a beautiful loggia and a crenellated tower, the cloister of San Francesco, and at the top the remains of the beautiful Rocca Aldobrandesca erected in the 9th century.
→ See also the page about Suvereto

Scarlino and Cala Violina

The fortress of Scarlino dominates the village with a beautiful view towards the coast and the Cala Violina and Cala Martina up to the Punt’Ala.
The most spectacular beach in the Maremma is probably that of Cala Violina.

Montieri

Montieri is in the heart of the Metalliferous Hills, center of exploitation of copper mines since antiquity, small village, at 1051 meters of altitude between forests of oaks, beech and chestnut.
The town preserves a small historical nucleus from which you can discover a great panorama, towers of the ancient walls, houses of the thirteenth century and the Cassero.
Montieri is also known for its chestnut.

Roccastrada and Montemassi

Roccastrada is a picturesque village that stands on a rock dominating the landscape, from the plains of the Maremma to Mount Amiata. It was a centre for the extraction of silver and copper in the Middle Ages, a fief of the Aldobrandeschi until the early 14th century, then a Sienese and possession of the Medici in the mid-16th century.
The centre still has the 13th-century church of San Niccolò, the medieval Porta del Madonnino, etc.

Montemassi is one of the most beautiful medieval centre in the hills, also mentioned in the frescoes by Simone Martini kept in the Palazzo Comunale of Siena.

Roccatederighi is another picturesque medieval village.

Gavorrano

At Gavorrano you can discover the mining history of the region with the Metalliferous Hills National Park GeoMet already described and a legendary castle theater in the Divine Comedy of Dante to be the scene of the sad fate where Pia dei Tolomei is killed by her husband.

Monterotondo Marittimo

In Monterotondo is the Biancane Geothermal Park with its steam, water jets and boiling mud, also close to the ancient Bagnone baths of the 3rd century BC and fumaroles in Sasso Pisano.
→ See also Sasso and Monterotondo page

Map of Metalliferous Hills

Links and informations

• Tourist portals: www.visittuscany.com/en, parcocollinemetallifere.it/en, maremma.name/en, www.casinadirosa.it, www.italia.it
• Informations : en.wikipedia.org

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