The Floristella-Grottacalda Mineral Park (Sicily): a geological trip that becomes history, literature and memory of a territory

The Floristella – Grottacalda sulfur mines represent an excellent site which combines geology with history with social as well as cultural elements of the central Sicily territory. For this reason, they have been added to “Rocca di Cerere” Unesco Global Geopark and are listed in the European geoparks network. Today, the remnants of the extraction devices and instruments as well as tunnels and wells spanning from early XIX to late XX century are gathered in the former mine sites and visitable. The proposed educational activity starting as the geological interpreation of the territitory, develops then to a multidisciplinary level since it comprises the technological and economical aspects together with the history of the Sicilian population. The proposed itinerary comprises the geological aspects represented by Messinian evaporitic rocks which crop out, and the evolution of the exploitation plants and the extraction sites over almost two hundred years. Finally, the visit of the main building shows the power of the former landowners. Thefore, the park becames not only and industrial-geological example, but also testifies the social organization in Sicily during the XiX and XX centuries.