Porto Flavia

Before 1924, ore from the Masua mine was carried by boat to Carloforte and loaded by hand onto ships, a slow and dangerous process. The engineer Cesare Vecelli designed a solution cut into the cliff: two tunnels stacked one above the other, six hundred metres long, with nine silos between them holding ten thousand tonnes, and a retractable conveyor arm that swung out of the cliff face to pour ore directly into a ship's hold. Loading time fell from days to hours. He named it after his daughter. The gallery opening looks out at the Pan di Zucchero, a limestone stack rising 133 metres from the sea.

What you actually see

• The cliff opening - a gallery mouth cut into a vertical sea cliff.
• The two tunnels - stacked passages with silos between them.
• The conveyor arm - the retractable loader that reached out to ships.
• The Pan di Zucchero - a 133-metre limestone stack offshore.

When to go

April to October; tours run at set times and must be booked, with reduced schedules in winter. It is cool inside. Allow about ninety minutes.

Honest expectations

Entry is only on a booked guided tour with fixed times. The tunnels are damp with some uneven ground. Helmets are issued and required.

Nearby

The Piscinas dunes lie north; Iglesias is inland.