Campigliese (Campiglia Mountains; Campiglia Ridge), Livorno Province, Tuscany, Italyi

Regional Level Types
Campigliese (Campiglia Mountains; Campiglia Ridge)	- not defined -
Livorno Province	Province
Tuscany	Region
Italy	Country

The so-called Campigliese (or also Monti di Campiglia), i.e. the hilly country surrounding the small town of Campiglia Marittima, is famous for hedenbergite-ilvaite skarn-hosted orebodies (Cu-Pb-Zn-Ag) and accompanying slag dumps, Sn-W-As ore deposits, the Botro ai Marmi monzogranite outcrop, and numerous karst cavities.

From an administrative point of view this area belongs to the municipality of Campiglia Marittima, San Vincenzo, Castagneto Carducci, Sassetta, and Suvereto.

This area, consisting of sedimentary rocks of the Tuscan nappe at the contact with rocks of Ligurian and Subligurian units, has been affected by strong magmatic activity. In fact, it lies along a "line of fire", that starts at Elba Island and ends at Larderello. At Elba Island the magmatic activity started between 8.4 and 5.9 Ma and migrated eastwards to Campigliese between 5.7 and 4.2 Ma. About 4 Ma the magma intrusions migrated further to the east, in the Larderello area, and triggered the well-known geothermal field. The first magmatic event recorded in Campigliese is represented by the Botro ai Marmi monzogranite intrusion (5.7 Ma). The outcrop of this granite exposed near Campiglia Marittima is a narrow "window" over a large body, buried at a depth of 400 m. The granite intrusion originated a large contact aureole (marbles) and local metasomatic masses (diopside-scapolite-garnet-vesuvianite-allanite-(Ce) exoskarn and diopside endoskarn). The Sn-W-As ore deposits located at Monte Valerio, Santa Caterina valley, and Campo alle Buche were formed during such magmatic activity. Later on, around 4.4 Ma, a mafic intrusion provide the hydrothermal fluids that originated the skarn orebodies (Cu-Pb-Zn-Ag) of Lanzi, Temperino, Valle dei Manienti, and Valle delle Rozze (Monte Calvi-North and Monte Coronato).

In Campigliese three millenia of metal exploitation are recorded. During the 4th century B.C. Etruscans started copper ore mining at Temperino mine; they smelted chalcopyrite in the nearby valleys and at the main metallurgical site of Baratti-Populonia on the sea cost [see: http://www.mindat.org/loc-13712.html]. In the Middle Ages, silver-rich ores were mined and the beautiful mining settlement of Rocca San Silvestro was established. For almost three centuries the silver production from San Silvestro fed the mints of Pisa and Lucca. Then, for five centuries, the San Silvestro area was neglected; some prospections were performed only in the 16th century under the rule of Cosimo I de' Medici (the prospectors, coming from Tyrol and Carinthia, were locally called "Lanzi"). In the second half of 19th century mining activities flourished again: copper was mined at Temperino mine, silver at Lanzi mine, and tin at Monte Valerio mine. These activities continued until World War II, when all mines were abandoned. In the post war years exploitation of lead, zinc, copper, and silver was performed at Lanzi and Temperino mines until 1976, when mining activities definitively ceased.

Notes:
1 - Aurichalcite represents one of the most aesthetic minerals from Campigliese (e.g. Buche al Ferro, Temperino-Lanzi mines, Montorsi prospects). It occurs in oxidised skarn bodies, often associated with hemimorphite and calcite.
2 - The manganesiferous mineral from the skarn orebodies described as bustamite by Aloisi (1926) has been later reinterpreted as johannsenite (Rodolico, 1947). However, according to Abrecht (1985), monomineralic zones of fibrous bustamite may occur. The pink Mn-rich pyroxenoids (rhodonite-pyroxmangite intergrowths) observable on hand specimens of johannsenite indicate either pyroxenoid overgrowths on johannsenite or pyroxenoid pseudomorphs after johannsenite (Capitani et al, 2003).

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References