La Thuile
The Mining Soul
La Thuile preserves a mining past that allows us to trace the thread of time. Many signs are still visible today, telling the story of the mine, spread throughout the town centre and its surroundings — in the woods and nearby villages. The large-scale exploitation of the deposit began in the mid-1920s. Initially used for domestic heating, La Thuile’s coal soon supplied the blast furnaces of major steel industries, making it a valuable national resource. Production peaked immediately after the Second World War, and the mine remained active until its closure in 1966.
Mining transformed not only the landscape but also the social fabric of the community. Workers’ housing, workshops, and an infirmary were constructed, giving rise to the villaggio dei minatori — the miners’ village — in areas previously uninhabited.
The miners were largely local men, though many came from other regions of Italy, bringing with them different dialects, traditions, and experiences. This exchange of cultures enriched La Thuile’s identity, weaving a collective memory still palpable today.
The daily work underground demanded strength, endurance, and skill. Within the narrow tunnels, miners performed multiple roles — from extraction to transport — a complex process that came to be known, almost poetically, as the arte mineraria, the “art of mining.” Above ground, engineers studied the coal seams, planned extraction levels, and oversaw the systems connecting the subterranean network to the surface. They reported directly to the concession owners, for the mine was also a business — one that had to produce profit. Yet the miners themselves were its true heart and soul.
After four decades of industrial activity, the structures that once sustained this enterprise were gradually abandoned or repurposed. Today, they remain as silent witnesses to an era that profoundly reshaped La Thuile — an era when the rhythm of life was dictated by the mountain’s dark and precious resource.
The History of the Anthracite Mines
• Until 1845, anthracite extraction in La Thuile was carried out solely for local consumption.
• By the late 18th century, the growing demand for fuel prompted the search for alternative energy sources to curb uncontrolled deforestation, particularly linked to the iron and copper industries.
• From 1838, the Azienda Economica dell’Interno was charged with ensuring that mining operations complied with the Letters Patent issued by King Carlo Felice in 1822.
• In 1851, the first mining concession, Villaret, was granted, laying the foundations for organised mining activity. It was followed in 1852 by the Bosco della Goletta concession.
• By 1880, the anthracite deposits of La Thuile comprised 32 excavation sites, distributed along both the right and left banks of the Ruitor torrent.
• After 1915, wartime needs renewed interest in domestic fuel reserves. In 1916, the mines were granted to the Società Miniere Carbonifere del Ruitor Damiano Arancini e C. The company was soon declared an auxiliary establishment under the control of the General Commissioner for National Fuels and placed under military supervision. By October of that year, the workforce exceeded 120 men, including around seventy militarised civilians and fifty prisoners of war.
• Between 1918 and 1926, the mines were owned by the local entrepreneur Vittorino Paris, who founded the Società Miniere di Col Croix. A surveyor from La Thuile, Paris was among the few able to operate the mines profitably. Facing immense logistical difficulties and high transport costs in moving coal from the extraction sites to La Thuile and then to Aosta, he personally financed the construction of an aerial cableway from the worksite to the hamlet of La Balme, crossing the saddle of the Prince Tommaso entrenchments.
• In 1928, the mines were acquired by Ansaldo Cogne, which in 1929 became the Società Anonima Nazionale Cogne. Backed by considerable financial resources and advanced organisational capacity, the company integrated La Thuile’s anthracite into the autarchic economic policies of the Fascist regime. During this period, the iron and steel industry of the Aosta Valley expanded significantly. From 1922 onwards, anthracite from La Thuile was used in the Cogne steelworks in Aosta, fuelling the industrial infrastructure that would later serve the war economy.
• For the transport of extracted material, several systems were employed. In 1933, La Thuile was connected to Morgex by a 2.4 km tunnel linking Arpy to the Col Croce mine level at 1,700 metres altitude. The anthracite was transported by a small train to Arpy, then by cableway to Morgex, where it was processed before being sent by rail to Aosta along the line built by the Società Nazionale Cogne for the State and inaugurated in 1929.
• From 1951 onwards, production declined steadily. By 1955, most of the remaining workers had been reassigned to the Aosta steelworks, while many others — suffering from varying degrees of silicosis — were declared unfit for employment.
• By late 1959, the Morgex washing plant was replaced by a smaller facility operating directly at the mine entrance in the Villaret area of La Thuile.
• After a long and eventful industrial history, which yielded approximately three million tonnes of anthracite, the centuries-old story of one of the oldest subalpine mining sites came to an end in 1966.