Archaeology and nature: hyblean cultural landscape and territorial ...

In accordance with an agreement established between the company and the Grottacalda's miners to exploit
the high areas of the mine, activities continued until 1963, the year of expiration of the concession. Of this
important mining activity (among the largest in Sicily) now remains a vast as degraded heritage: castles in
masonry, concrete drop structures located near the extraordinary Mezzena Well (Fig. 4 and 5), the so called
Pozzo Grande built in 1868, the calcaroni (masonry furnaces), several buildings, formerly used as housing
for the miners and the administrative staff, the former power station, a cinema, the buildings of the former
railway station. Recently, some of these buildings have been converted to farm holidays structure by the
current owners [9].
On the other hands, with regard to the mine Floristella, the permission opening was granted on April 11,
1825 although the extraction of sulfur happened even earlier, after the discovery, in 1791, of the method of
manufacture of soda obtained by treating with sulfuric acid, the common salt. This field was one of the most
important mining district of Caltanissetta, not only for its productivity but also for the quality of the sulfur that
was extracted: so high as to constitute a standard of excellence in the market.
The mining area of Floristella preserves the typical landscape of the Sicilian zolfiera. Like a great open-air
museum, the huge mining complex provides a true "stratigraphy" of different eras and related systems and
techniques of sulfur mining and smelting. Inside, in fact, are present and clearly visible countless galleries
and about 180 discenderie (shafts) from where the sulfur was knocked down by the traditional pick to be
then transported to the so-called calcarelle (a sort of circular ditches with a 1.50-2 meters diameter with an
inclined plain so to allow the casting of the molten sulfur towards an opening called a morte - death - where it
solidified) that are still preserved in good condition, near wells and galleries. It can also be seen what
remains of industrially masonry furnaces, several examples of the so-called Gill furnaces (invented in 1880
by Robert Gill), of castles complete with winch (the oldest dating back to 1868), in addition to the ruins of
service buildings arisen in the vicinity of the wells (nursing, accommodation for the miners, including the
room used as a recreational club for workers).
On a hill stands the imposing Palazzo Pennisi, former residence of the owner family, which dominates the
entire mining area of Floristella of which it represent the real heart (Fig. 6). Built between 1870 and 1885,
initially only until the ground floor by Baron Pennisi, nobleman from Acireale, it was intended as a summer
residence for the family. The Palazzo was later raised to two other plans to meet the need for
accommodation of the mine manager and employees, and for setting up office facilities. It was designed to
be an impregnable fortress: unable to be taken by the miners in the event of strikes and riots. For this
reason, the numerous openings were equipped with louvers and inside - in addition to housing, offices,
chambers of operation, an octagonal chapel, the coal cellar, barns, cellars - there are some secret safety
exits that, through the cellars and two small galleries, allowed to escape from the Palace in the ridge below.
The magnificence of the building and its architectural value, generate a kind of contrast with the austerity of
the place, providing an immediate and exciting image of what should be the extreme social gap of that time.
Fig. 4: The Pozzo Mezzena.
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