The mining site of Seddas Moddizzis and the adjacent village both lie in the municipality of Gonnesa in the area of Iglesias. The site takes its name from the Mediterranean shrub found in the area, especially mastic tree, referred to in Sardinian as moddizzi; the name literally meaning Valley of the mastic tree.
The San Giorgio mine stands near the mine of Seddas Moddizzis; indeed, it is an area where mining dates back to the Roman and Pisan eras. Industrial activity started at the end of the nineteenth century under the management of the engineer Giorgio Asproni, who in 1874 had the village of the same name built.
The position of the houses inside the village reflected the hierarchy on which work at the mine was based: in the centre, the director’s villa and the Management building with the admin offices, while the workers’ homes were spread around this as well as the school and company store; the church, on the other hand, was built slightly outside the residential area. The workers’ houses had two rooms, an attic and veranda, while the director’s villa was much larger with 23 rooms on two floors and a neo-Medieval style central turret.
The site is currently supervised with pre-booking visits.
