On display in the Town Hall Square are a number of artifacts commemorating the work of miners; important records of the social and economic history of all of Sardinia that are also part of Capoterra’s cultural heritage. The mountainous area of Cirifoddi was known since ancient Roman times for its minerals. The French company Petin-Gaudet, which had already obtained the Gennamari and Ingurtosu concessions, was responsible for an iron deposit discovered between Mount Picci and Moddizzi Manna. In the 1860s, the mine was given in concession to Frenchman Léon Gouin along with two other concessions: Su Meriagu and Sant’Antonio (known as the Genovesi Mine). The ores were transported by locomotive for a 15.4-kilometer stretch to Maddalena beach where there was a wharf, 200 meters long, where the ores were loaded onto boats. This railroad, inaugurated by Prince Umberto di Savoia in 1862, can be considered the first railroad on the island.
