A history chiselled in the bowels of the Earth
The idea of creating the Archaeological Mines Park of San Silvestro was conceived during a research project. The first excavation campaign at the Rocca San Silvestro castle dates back to 1984, and was carried out by the Teaching of Medieval Archaeology at the University of Siena, in collaboration with the Town Authorities of Campiglia Marittima and numerous European university departments.
Alongside the excavation at the castle, a systematic surface survey was carried out in the area around Campiglia to reconstruct, based on landscape archaeology, the settlement systems in the various historical periods – from Prehistory to modern times – and to understand how the communities used the resources available.
Archaeological research – attracting the interest of natural historians, administrators and territorial protection entities – sparked the idea of the Archaeological Mines Park.
Today, Rocca San Silvestro and its copper and silver mines are a reference point on a European level in rewriting the history of mining in the Middle Ages based on archaeological research.
The original pilot project dates back to 1989 when, commissioned by the Town Authorities of Campiglia Marittima, the general lines of the Archaeological Mines Park of San Silvestro were defined.
The aim was not simply to promote and “museumise” a single monument but an entire historical area, fruit of centuries of mining activities, combining the promotion of local resources with the protection of the environmental and the historical heritage.
A further step was taken towards the development of the project with the purchase of the land and the properties by the Town of Campiglia Marittima.
The construction work began thanks to the European financing under EEC regulation no. 328/88 Resider I.