The Mining Village of Niccioleta
The Mining Village of Niccioleta was founded in the mid-1930s and is an important example of the so-called città di fondazione built under the Fascist regime. In June 1944, it became the site of one of the most heinous Nazi-Fascist massacres of World War II, in which 83 miners died. Today, it has become an open-air museum at the discovery of its history and architecture.
Niccioleta - città di fondazione (planned town)
The mining village of Niccioleta was built in the mid-1930s by the Montecatini Company that had identified an important pyrite deposit in the area. It is a perfect example of the urban layout of the so-called città di fondazione, following the criteria of these planned towns built under the Fascist regime: the residential quarters of the management (above) and the workers (below) were organised around two distinct road axes that converge in the Dopolavoro square, the community centre.
The history of Niccioleta also shows how industry and the Fascist regime’s policy were interwoven the time of autarchy: the company held 90 per cent of the nation's pyrite production thanks to concessions made by the Fascist government in the mid-1930s.
The Nazi Massacre of Niccioleta
The history of Niccioleta is marked by a terrible massacre, one of the first massacres of civilians carried out in Tuscany by the Nazi-Fascists. At dawn of the 13 June 1944, the village was surrounded by German police units made up of Italian soldiers, officers and non-commissioned officers, mostly German. 150 men were rounded up and herded into the air-raid shelter near the Dopolavoro building. Six of them were shot immediately; the others were transferred near Pisa where 77 were shot the next day and 21 deported. The massacre marked the history of the village and the lives of its inhabitants forever.
Open-air museum, urban tour and documentation centre
Despite the closure of the mine in 1992 and the progressive depopulation, the community of Niccioleta is intended to continue telling its story. Today, it has become an open-air museum with an urban itinerary. Moreover, it hosts an exhibition on the Resistance, a Documentation Centre with the mining archives, a hostel and the former Dopolavoro building, the former community center for the mine workers – an outstanding example of Rationalist architecture.
A guided urban tour with panels, historical photographs and an audio guide tell the story of the mining village. The tour guides along the former Dopolavoro building, the company canteen and former Casa del Fascio (former Fascist party building) to the director's villa, the elegant cottages for employees and managers as well as the workers' houses.