THE LIGNITE MINES

“… On a farm […] known as the “Casa Nuova” (New House) there was a cave of fossil coal, Wood Stone in the vernacular, in which in 1750 a shepherd lit a fire in winter and, once lit, it continued to burn for 16 months.
Of this there were other veins […], which the peasants, being far from woods, used to fuel their stoves…”

So noted Pecci in the middle of the 8th century. More than a century passed before the deposits of lignite near Montefollonico were systematically exploited, and would join agriculture as a key, economic activity in the area.
The first news about mines in Montefollonico dates from 1877 and relates to a cave of lignite at Orbigliano, and a cave of sandstone at Rotelle.
The Renellone mine was inaugurated in 1884 and the Casanovoli was inaugurated in 1892.
In 1907, operation of the mines was taken over by the “Società ‘Anonimà Ligniti” (Anonymous Association of Lignite), which began to mine Montefollonico’s deposits using true, industrial techniques.
The mining crisis in the early thirties spread throughout the entire province of Siena.
In 1931 the mining works of Montefollonico worked at reduced capacity, given the sharp drop in demand for coal.

In the second half of the thirties there was a new boom in coal production due to the war in Ethiopia and growing demand from the industrial centers of Northern Italy.
During the Second World War, the mines were militarized and declared auxiliary works. After the war, mining activity steadily declined due to depletion of deposits and the rise in oil production.
1955 saw the last attempt to revive the mines, but at the beginning of the sixties, the mines of Montefollonico were permanently closed.
From the beginning of the 20th century, mining activity was in the hands of Vittorio Vitolo. He had been involved since the days of the Società Anonimà Ligniti and went on to have a hand in all of the organizations it comprised. He assured consistency of standards throughout the enterprises and was a key figure in the development and modernization of mining activities.

The stimulus Vittorio Vitolo brought to the economic development of Torrita was accompanied by an active involvement in the social problems of the community. From the accounts of people who knew him, a picture emerges of a man with a strong personality who, in running the business, demonstrated farsightedness and breadth of vision, and who never stinted on investing in modernization of the works and improving the living conditions of the workers.