THE DOSSENA MINES ---

Along the Via Mercatorum, in Val Brembana, at Dossena lies the oldest mining complex in the Bergamo mountains, a rich and highly varied extraction district. Used and abandoned in various historical periods, they were even studied by Leonardo Da Vinci for the particular extraction techniques employed here. Over the centuries, ferrous material and calamine were extracted, and from World War I onwards it was used for fluorite extraction, a precious material for the metallurgical and glass industries. Mining activity definitively ceased in 1981. A map dating back to the 1970s shows the interior of the mines at that time: the access gallery was the main entrance used by workers, also utilized for the supply of water and air.