Just one glance at that enchanted stage was enough for him. He, Cesare Vecelli, son of the Royal School of Application of Turin, was not simply a mining engineer. The “holy scriptures” of the great lead-zinc epic of the Iglesiente note him as “sensitive” to the living conditions of the miners and to the environment that surrounds them.
Rare virtue
A rare virtue in the years when mining companies were foreign and voracious, ready to endlessly empty the "geological somersaults" of the oldest land, that between Buggerru and Iglesias, from Planu Sartu to Monte Nai, in the Iglesias hamlet of Masua. When he became aware of the harsh working conditions of the miners, the ordeal of excavation and transportation of the mineral, he did not give himself peace. The goal was to introduce into the extraction process a virtuous circuit of overlapping tunnels capable of "digging" inside the mountain a real mining port, the only one in the world. However, he needed a corner of that coast with a suitable seabed for the landing of the ships-ferries.
I bring inside the mountain
He didn't think twice: the solution was in front of that "sweet faraglione" that stood imposing and haughty in front of the inlet of Masua, the most mining-related of the villages of the ancient Villa Ecclesiae. Vecelli's plan was clear: exploit the Pan di Zucchero to stop the wind, using an extendable track to accompany the mineral on "railway" trolleys directly from the mountain to the ship's hold, without scarring that stretch of sea with ports, inlets, piers or jetties. Thus was born Porto Flavia, dedicated to the daughter of the great engineer who revolutionized mining transport and working conditions. Now, that brilliant intuition, an exclusive work of engineering-mining art, has become a monument with the holy chrisms of thousands of visitors every year.
Overlooking paradise
The reason is contained in six hundred meters of “adventure gallery”, to be traveled with helmet and carbide lamp, all inside the mountain, up to the “paradise” that suddenly appears like a “miracle” on the most exclusive view, right in front of the Pan di Zucchero stage. Faraglioni placed like a work of art in the middle of the horizon of the cobalt blue sea, on a coast as wild as it is mysterious, sealed by small and large inlets, mining monuments unique in the world, from the ancient Laveria Lamarmora to breathtaking views.
