History
Rio Albano and the cable-railway for the transport of mineral ore.
The history of Residence Rio Albano is tied to the history of the mines of Elba and
the prisoners who worked in them at the end of the 19th century.
Below you will find some passages from a document on the history of forced labour on the island of Elba and actually
in the building which today houses the Residence.
Forced "coatti" prison labourers in the mines of Elba from 1863 to 1888.
The reason for the recruitment of forced prison labour in the mines was to meet the increased demand for
production which we can see started in the year 1861.
In the summer of 1866, the demand for mineral ore having decreased, it was decided to dispense with all
the skilled workers who were not resident in the council area of Rio.
Hundreds of manual workers gathered together in the mines forming an army of destitutes at the heart of
which was a great nucleus of ‘coatti’ prison labourers. The forestry workers had a salary of two ‘lire’ a
day and the right to wood from the Woods of Giove and Rio Albano.
In April of 1872 the Council assigned a rural building in the area of L’Assunta to be used as a dormitory for forestry workers.
The presence of the prison labourers was always a thorn in the side of the local population.
However, all said and done even amongst the locals there were those ‘who were not of the best
quality’ and in fact there were no places to socialise in other than the drinking taverns.
These, frequented also by sailors from the ships which came to load the mineral ore, were
often scenes of violent brawls.
TIn 1879 30 ‘coatti’ forced labourers were returned to the mines to be followed within a few months by the whole population (112 men) of the prison of Assunta.
It is not certain but probably a second prison was opened by then at Rio Albano.
The work of extraction often took place along steep clefts and if one man fell it wasn’t unusual if he took all the men in the squad with him.
With the passage of time the convicts were eventually unchained as they proved to be well behaved and happy to work
hard rather than be returned to their cells and suffer the consequent loss of the pay the local Council gave them
even if it was just one miserable ‘lira’ a day.