Sulfur was one of Sicily's most important mineral resources, which is no longer exploited. The area covered by the large deposits is the central area of the island and lies between the provinces of Caltanissetta, Enna and Agrigento. The area is also known to geologists as the chalky-sulfur plateau. The area of mining exploitation also extended as far as the Province of Palermo with the Lercara Friddi basin and the Province of Catania. A part of the latter was used in the creation of the Province of Enna in 1928; it is the one in which sulfur mining, processing and transport took place in the last quarter of the millennium. For a time it also was the largest production area worldwide.
History The harvesting of outcrop sulfur took place even in very ancient times. In fact, mining vestiges have been found dating back to 200 B.C.E.; it was used in medicine from time immemorial but the Romans also used it for war purposes by mixing it with other fuels.
What set in motion the large-scale exploitation of Sicilian sulfur was the discovery of the Le Blanc method (1787) for the industrial-scale manufacture of soda ash. Sulfur, also a key ingredient in the production of gunpowder, then assumed a strategic importance equal to that held in the modern era by uranium. During the Napoleonic Wars, several British capitalists began to take an interest in the open-pit mining areas that were located near the ports of southern Sicily. After the peace and Conservative Order of 1815, various French companies also began their activities in the area due to the development of production and demand for sulfuric acid, which had a further propelling effect on Sicilian ore mining.Smith, pp. 510–511
Following the Conservative Order, the sulfur industry finally took off, so much so that in the second half of the 1830s exports of sulfur were found to rank first among those from the island with an annual value of 1,671,500 ducats.Cangila, p. 22
Between 1828 and 1830, the export of sulfur to the Marseille factories for the production of soda ash and sulfuric acid reached and exceeded 35,000 tons. Various contingent reasons, including overproduction, meant that from 1830 onward the sulfur industry had ups and downs with rather sustained price fluctuations also due to competition from pyrites mined and processed locally in Central Italy, whose transportation cost was lower. Attempts to establish sulfuric acid and soda ash production industries in Sicily were not very successful for various reasons; in 1838 Ferdinand II had granted the Sicilian sulfur monopoly to the French company Taix & Aycard, which promised the development of processing industries and the construction of 25 km of carriage roads per year in return. However, this choice did not lead to the desired results. As market prices rose excessively, the industrial initiatives were not followed up, and there was stiff opposition from Great Britain, which even threatened to seize Sicilian ships. In 1846 the agreements to that effect were revoked.Rivista contemporanea, vol. 26, p. 429, Torino, 1861.Smith, pp. 512–513 The largest importer in 1849 was England, but sulfur was also sold in large quantities to the United States.
The development of methods for using cheaper pyrites instead of sulfur in the production of sulfuric acid along with the spread of the Solvay method of producing artificial soda ash were decisive in the gradual loss of market share, particularly in Germany and England, resulting in the collapse of Sicilian sulfur prices. Production continued until the end of the nineteenth century, but the collapse of selling prices put the entire industry in crisis.
In 1896, the Anglo-Sicilian Sulphur Company Limited was formed in London. Its members included Vincenzo Florio, who was its attorney for Sicily, and a group of interested investors including Englishmen Benjamin Ingham and Agostino Porry; the purpose was to revive the marketing of sulfuric acid and sulfur derivatives.Orazio Cancila, I Florio, storia di una dinastia imprenditoriale, Milano, Bompiani, 2008. Agreements made with the Anglo-Sicilian-Sulphur Co. allowed producers access to credit to finance more modern industrial plants by improving mine facilities. For a time the Sicilian sulfur sector was lifted from the crisis into which it had plunged; prices, which in 1895 had fallen to 56 liras per ton already a few years later, stabilized at 90–95 liras.
Also reviving the demand for sulfur was the serious spread of a plant disease, powdery mildew; a parasitic fungus of the vine affected vineyards throughout Europe, devastating them. The only remedy to prevent its spread was spraying plants with sulfur powder in an aqueous solution. Sulfur refining and milling then became profitable again with the establishment of refineries and milling plants in various coastal locations from Licata to Porto Empedocle and in the city of Catania.
One of the problems underlying the various crises in the industry was the infrastructural deficiency in transportation,Squarzina. lack of communication roads, lack of ports that would allow large cargo ships to dock, lack of mechanical means and railways,Smith, pp. 511–512 which the various governments had neglected and which the new Kingdom of Italy addressed with little determination. In the early 1870s, the mayor of Catania Tenerelli, a financier and entrepreneur in the sulfur industry, denounced the delay in proceeding with the construction of the Palermo-Catania railway as the main reason for the paralysis of the sulfur industry.Giarrizzo, p. 60 In fact, it was only after the opening of the section up to Villarosa (1876), subcontracted by Robert Trewhella (also a large sulfur entrepreneur in the Catania area) that sulfur could reach the city's refineries and the Port of Catania quickly. This fact led the city to assume a preeminent role in the industry,Giarrizzo, p. 75 because it lowered to almost half the unit price of transportation, which until that time had been accomplished by means of carramatti, a kind of cargo wagons pulled by sturdy draft horses.Barone.
By the end of the 19th century, there were more than 700 mines present and active, employing a workforce of more than 30,000, the working conditions of which, however, remained bordering on inhumane. The turn-of-the-century years thus saw the birth and development of the first trade unions and the beginning of strikes to obtain more humane working conditions. The sulfur workers were those who most participated in the establishment of the Fasci Siciliani (Sicilian Workers Leagues): in May 1891 the Fascio of Catania was established; in October 1893, the mining congress was held in Grotte, a mining town in the province of Agrigento. The congress was attended by 1,500 workers and small producers. The sulfur workers demanded legally raising the minimum age of mine boys exploited since then as slaves to 14, a decrease in working hours (which was practically from dawn to dusk) and a minimum wage. Small producers demanded measures that would free them from the exploitation of the few large owners who controlled the storage market while deriving all the profit. The Fasci, however, were disbanded on authority by the Francesco Crispi government in early 1894 after more than a hundred demonstrators had died in clashes with the army in a single year. The industry had entered a crisis in the 1890s, and the Anglo-Sicilian company had shifted trade to the Port of Licata and Porto Empedocle where costs were lower, causing serious repercussions on the Catanese economy.Giarrizzo, p. 149
In 1901, the work units reached a high of thirty-nine thousand with 540,000 tons of sulfur ore extracted.
The Anglo-Sicilian company continued to operate, but ceased operations as a result of the spread of the new economical mining method, the Frasch process, to the United States. It could not be applied to the mines of Sicily, which rendered them uncompetitive.
World War I increased the difficulties of supplying materials for the industry and decreased the number of miners as a result of most of the workforce joining the army. By the end of the war, the U.S. sulfur industry claimed much of the world market. In 1927, Fascism nationalized the mining subsoil by creating the Ente Nazionale Zolfi Italiani based in Rome, centralizing all mining, commercial and economic activities there, and nevertheless failing to revive the industry. Sicilian sulfur production regained some breath only after 1943, after the war was over (in Sicily), but only until the early 1950s as America engaged in the Korean War and channelled resources to the war industry.
The subsequent resumption of American industrial production again raked all markets, burning the competition with low prices, despite Italian protectionism at both the central and regional government levels (which in 1962 had created the Ente Minerario Siciliano for the purpose). The measures slowed the decline of the island's sulfur sector until the market liberalization sought by the European single market brought it to an end. In 1976, the island's sulfur production had not exceeded a total of 85,000 tons.Huré. Beginning in 1975, various laws produced the gradual closure of the Musala, Zimbalio, Gaspa La Torre, Baccarato, Giangagliano, Floristella, Grottacalda, and Giumentaro mines to name the largest; today none remain in operation.
Sulfur mines Below are some of the hundreds of sulfur mines divided among the provinces of central Sicily:
Province of Agrigento
Milione, near Agrigento Cinié, in the vicinity of Alessandria della Rocca, in the locality of Cinié Mandra, near Aragona Balata, in the territory of Bivona, in the Balata locality Bifara (Campobello di Licata) Favarotta (Campobello di Licata) Giammaccarrone, near Campobello di Licata Serra di Mendola (Campobello di Licata) Verdilio-Mintina, near Campobello di Licata San Giovannello, near Casteltermini Scironello, near Casteltermini Viadimezzo, near Casteltermini Cozzo Disi, between Casteltermini and Campofranco, in Montelongo, which was active until 1992 and can now be visited as a mine-museum, an example of industrial archaeology. Collorotondo, near Cattolica Eraclea Malacarne, near Cattolica Eraclea Marco, near Cattolica Eraclea Margitello, near Cattolica Eraclea Cappadone, near Cianciana, in the Falconera locality Groticelli, northwest of Cianciana Grotticelli, northeast of Cianciana Guidi, near Cianciana, in the locality of Raddoli Falconera, northeast of Cianciana Mormino, in the vicinity of Cianciana, in Raddoli Passarello, northeast of Cianciana Sciacca Pass, northwest of Cianciana Polizzi, near Cianciana Tamburello, near Cianciana, in the locality of Raddoli Fiumarazza-Grassagliata, near Comitini Montagna, near Comitini Stretto Cuvello, near Comitini, closed in 1974 Cucca, in Favara Falsirotta, near Favara Poggio di muto, in Favara Prilo, in Favara Roccarossa, in Favara Salamone, near Favara Ciavolotta, between the municipality of Favara and Villaggio Mosè, a hamlet of Agrigento Lucia, between the municipality of Favara and Villaggio Mosè, a hamlet of Agrigento Cinta di Joppolo Giancaxio, in the vicinity of Joppolo Giancaxio, at Cinta Vallone secco, near Licata Barriera, near Naro Ciccobriglio, near Naro Gambecorte, in the vicinity of Naro, in the locality of Perciata Gibbesi, in the vicinity of Naro, in the locality of Gibbesi Mintinella Virdilio near Naro Sciacca, in the vicinity of Naro, in the locality of Perciata Gibeldolce, near Palma di Montechiaro Montegrande, near Palma di Montechiaro Sciuvè, near Palma di Montechiaro Bonomo (Racalmuto Area) Donna Fara, near Racalmuto Frate Paolo (Racalmuto Area) Gibellini, between Racalmuto and Montedoro, in the province of Caltanissetta Grillo (Racalmuto Area) Piano di Corsa (Racalmuto Area) Piriò (Racalmuto Area) Quattro Finaite (Racalmuto Area) Quattro Tumoli (Area di Racalmuto)