San Vito, Monte Narba Mine

A village is connected to the mine, surrounded by thick vegetation including palm trees, often also present in other mining settlements as an obvious distinctive sign.
Already explored in the mid-eighteenth century by Carlo Gustavo Mandel, consul of Sweden in Cagliari, the lead and silver mine was granted in the mid-nineteenth century to the Lanusei Company. In 1863, the village was built, inhabited in 1916 also by Austrian prisoners for forced labor; in 1935, the concession of the mine was revoked and an agricultural activity was established.
The village has its fulcrum in the Villa Madama, designed by the engineer Giovanni Battista Traverso for the director's residence. It has a two-story main body with an iron balcony, from which two other lower fronts can be detached. The bezel above the entrance reads the iron monogram “SL” (Società Lanusei). Inside, some pictorial decorations made by an Austrian prisoner survive.
The settlement also includes the hospital and the artifacts related to the mining activity (mechanical workshop, washing machine, carpentry, power plant) and, not far from the town, the main well connected to a dozen tunnels, called “Sa Macchina Beccia” (the old car).
The mine is part of the Geominerary, Historical and Environmental Park of Sardinia, recognized by UNESCO.

History of studies
The mine has appeared in several works on industrial archeology in Sardinia.

Bibliography
S. Mezzolani-A. Simoncini, The Monte Narba Silver Mine History and Memories, Cagliari, Gia, 1989; S. Mezzolani-A. Simoncini, Sardinia to save. Landscapes and architecture of the mines, Nuoro, Sardo Photographic Archive, 1993, pp. 276-285.

How to get there
The mining area can be reached through a dirt road south of the SS 387 that connects Muravera to San Vito, a few kilometers from the first town. Muravera and the town of San Vito, coming from S, can also be reached starting from the SS 125 var oriental in Sardinia.