With more than 200 mineralogical species, traced and cataloged over centuries of research by the world's leading scholars and mineralogy enthusiasts, this island boasts more than one-twentieth of the planet's minerals found on its small territory. Anyone who is interested in geology and minerals will sooner or later come across the name of Elba.

Discovering the Elban mining variety. Whether samples from the mines on the eastern slope or the fabulous pegmatite crystallizations on the western slope, no museum in the world can be called complete without Elban samples. If you, too, would like to try your hand at following in the footsteps of the crystal hunters, you will be spoiled for choice: geologist's hammer in hand and a bag for your collection, this will be the initial equipment for the guided tours to discover the old iron mine work sites of Rio ( Rio Marina) and Capoliveri. Here, accompanied by expert guides, you can unearth samples of hematite, pyrite, limonite, malachite and many more to display in your personal collections.

For an even more exciting experience, there is also the chance to explore the "heart of the earth," diving with helmet on your head and "compasses gone wild," into the underground tunnels of the Ginevro magnetite mine, the only tunnel mine still open to visitors on the island.

On the western side, on the other hand, the mineralogical capital is surely San Piero, the realm of centuries-old generations of granite stonemasons, where tourmalines and gems from the pegmatitic strands of Monte Capanne await you as the main attraction, and you can take part in many exciting excursions on the subject of granite mining and utilization.

Where to start, then? To become a "miner for a day," you need only go to one of the museum visitor centers available to you on the island of Elba: in Rio Marina (a hamlet of the municipality of Rio) with the Mineralogical Museum of the Elba Mining Park and guided tours of the Basin and Valle Giove quarries; in Capoliveri with visits to the Museum of the Old Workshop and the Vallone and Ginevro Tunnels; and finally at MUM, or the Mineralogical and Gemological Museum of San Piero to discover the wonderful world of granite.