Maremma is a land of " butteri " (the Italian name for Maremma cowboys) and mines. There a strict connection between the history of the region and the mineral deposits situated in two main areas: the Colline Metallifere in Upper Maremma in the province of Grosseto in the northern part of the region and Mount Amiata to the east of it. From the Etruscans, to the Romans, the republics of Pisa and Siena and the newly founded kingdom of Italy at the end of the 19th century, up until 30 years ago, iron, copper, silver, pyrite, mercury and cinnabar have always been extracted in Maremma .

In the 20th century mines constituted a fundamental economic resource for many small towns in Maremma , including Gavorrano, Massa Marittima, Scarlino and Follonica (on the Colline Metallifere), Cerreto Piano, Castell`Azzara, Santa Fiora and Arcidosso (on Mount Amiata), and many others.

If you have decided to visit Maremma , why do not you take advantage of your stay in the region to discover the riches of its subsoil? You could also pay a visit to some of the museums dedicated to its past mining activity. The Museo delle Miniere di Mercurio del Monte Amiata (Mercury Mining Museum of Mount Amiata) in Santa Fiora, in Piazza Garibaldi, composes of five interesting exhibition rooms and a real gallery that leads to the heart of the mine (https://www.minieredimercurio.it/). The mine in Santa Fiora was the second largest mercury field in the world.

Another interesting site is the Sentiero e Gallerie Minerarie del Cornacchino (Cornacchino Path and Mine Galleries) in Castell`Azzara, which consists in two ex-mine galleries active in the late 19th century that have now been restored and open to the public (www.museidimaremma.it/it/museo.asp?keymuseo=49).

If, instead, you are spending your holidays in a villa or in any other kind of accommodation facility in Upper Maremma, you are closer to the mines on the Colline Metallifere and you thus can visit the new Parco Minerario Naturalistico di Gavorrano (Gavorrano Mineral and Nature Park). Gavorrano is a small town on the side of Mount Calvo, where the soil is rich in pyrite. The museum is divided into two parts: the so-called " Parco delle Rocce " (Park of Rocks), where you find the entry and the parking lot, and the " Area Mineraria di Ravi Marchi " (Ravi Marchi Mining Area), where you can see the equipment for processing pyrite. In the Rock Park has been created an incredible underground multimedia museum for helping visitors to better understand how miners lived immediately after World War II (www.parcominerario.it/).

Perhaps a bit less enthralling but nonetheless interesting are also the Museo di arte e storia delle miniere (Museum of Art and Mining History) in Massa Marittima (www.museidimaremma.it/it/museo.asp?keymuseo=5) and the Forno di San Ferdinando (San Ferdinando Foundry), in Follonica, near the sea, for the processing and production of iron and cast iron (www.comune.follonica.gr.it/museo/).