The Mines Trail
Trekking and hiking through history, legend and discovery
The silver village
The ground beneath Longobucco is rich in argentiferous galena, the ore from which silver is obtained. Tradition has it that the people of Sybaris and Kroton and the Romans were already mining it to strike their coins, and one scholar wrote that the fortune of Sybaris was tied to the Longobucco mines just as that of Athens was tied to the mines of Laurion.
The first records date from the end of the 12th century: in 1197 Emperor Henry VI sent one of his men to oversee the mining. In 1268 the mines yielded 103 marks of pure silver, and in 1282 Charles I of Anjou called thirty Longobucco miners to dig trenches during the War of the Sicilian Vespers. In 1506 the mines were granted to Galeazzo Caracciolo, and in 1566 they returned to the Crown. The earthquake of 1783 led to their abandonment.
The trail
The Via delle Miniere is a history and nature trail that starts just outside the village. Along the way you see the shafts and quarries of the old mines, and information panels explain how galena was extracted and processed. In places the rock still glitters with silver.
Longobucco's silversmiths were known throughout southern Italy, and it is said that even Joachim of Fiore came here to have chalices made. And the story is not over: since 2012 cavers and researchers have been studying the cavities dug by the miners.