GESSOLUNGO MINE
Of the “big omega” of the sulphur vein of the Caltanissetta’s basin that unfolds through the mounts San Giuliano, Sabucina and Capodarso, (which remind an omega in the shape), the mine of Gessolungo is located on the highest point and is among the most ancient ones, to the point that on the northern slope, we can still see holes in the briscale (oxidised sulphur that comes to the surface) that can be dated back to early 1700. The sulphur extraction began in 1839 (and ended in 1986) and is woefully famous for the tragedies that spilled the blood of many miners who descended into its depths. One of the worst tragedies of the Sicilian solfare happened, in fact, in Gessolungo in 1881, when the firedamp gas caused an explosion while 250 miners where descending underground: 65 men never saw the sunlight again, including 19 “carusi” (children aged between 8 and 14), 9 of which remained unidentified, and 35 miners were seriously injured. When, 20 days after the disaster, the bodies of 55 victims were recovered, the people’s emotion was such that they built a graveyard next to the mine, recently restored and known as “Cimitero dei carusi” , in memory of the many victims the mines made in the past centuries. Of the old sulphur mine Gessolungo what’s left today are just the essential buildings, a paramount historical testimony, the Fiocchi pit (headframe, with cages and accessories, a hoist, and the connected crushing system for fills), and the Maurelli backflow pit, but no entrances to the underground are left, since all entrances were sealed forever in 1990.
