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Description
Porto Flavia is a service infrastructure of the Masua mining area, no longer operational, located in the south-western area of Sardinia and administratively falling within the municipality of Iglesias, province of South Sardinia, in what is now the seaside resort of Masua. It measures approximately 600 m in length.

Although it was a mining site, it was not a mine, but a port for embarking material extracted from nearby mines. It was designed by the Venetian engineer Cesare Vecelli and built in 1924; it was named after the engineer's eldest daughter.

The mine
The lead and silver mine of Masua was one of the most important in the area, exploited since the late 17th century, and one of the last to close in 1999. In 1882 it was visited by a very young Gabriele D'Annunzio, at the time a correspondent of the magazine Cronaca bizantina, and from the visit came a description, as harsh as it was compelling, of the working and living conditions of the miners.

Realisation
The entire harbour installation was realised by digging two overlapping tunnels into the mountain overlooking the sea: the upper one, where the extracted materials after arriving at the site via a Decauville railway were unloaded, and the lower one from where, by means of a removable conveyor belt, the material was stowed directly onto the ships at anchor. Between the two tunnels were nine enormous silos for the stowage of material, capable of holding up to 10,000 tonnes.

The construction of Porto Flavia allowed the Belgian mining company Veille Montagne, owner of the mines in the area, to cut the cost of loading materials that, until then, had been loaded by hand into bilancelle (small lateen-sailed boats) from Carloforte to be transported to warehouses on the island of San Pietro, from where they were then embarked for their destinations.

Description
Porto Flavia is a service infrastructure of the Masua mining area, no longer operational, located in the south-western area of Sardinia and administratively falling within the municipality of Iglesias, province of South Sardinia, in what is now the seaside resort of Masua. It measures approximately 600 m in length.

Although it was a mining site, it was not a mine, but a port for embarking material extracted from nearby mines. It was designed by the Venetian engineer Cesare Vecelli and built in 1924; it was named after the engineer's eldest daughter.

The mine
The lead and silver mine of Masua was one of the most important in the area, exploited since the late 17th century, and one of the last to close in 1999. In 1882 it was visited by a very young Gabriele D'Annunzio, at the time a correspondent of the magazine Cronaca bizantina, and from the visit came a description, as harsh as it was compelling, of the working and living conditions of the miners.

Realisation
The entire harbour installation was realised by digging two overlapping tunnels into the mountain overlooking the sea: the upper one, where the extracted materials after arriving at the site via a Decauville railway were unloaded, and the lower one from where, by means of a removable conveyor belt, the material was stowed directly onto the ships at anchor. Between the two tunnels were nine enormous silos for the stowage of material, capable of holding up to 10,000 tonnes.

The construction of Porto Flavia allowed the Belgian mining company Veille Montagne, owner of the mines in the area, to cut the cost of loading materials that, until then, had been loaded by hand into bilancelle (small lateen-sailed boats) from Carloforte to be transported to warehouses on the island of San Pietro, from where they were then embarked for their destinations.