In the heart of Devil’s Valley, among natural vapors, industrial history and
timeless landscapes, a small town in the province of Pisa
It holds a world record: underground steam was used here
for the first time to produce energy.
Italian Traditions takes you to Larderello, a hamlet in the municipality of Pomarance, in
province of Pisa, where Tuscany shows one of its most unexpected faces. Not that
of orderly hills, rows or medieval villages, but that of a living land,
crossed by white vapors, fumaroles and boraciferous dandelions.
Here, in the so-called
Devil’s Valley, the underground is not just an invisible presence: it emerges, breathes,
produces heat and has given rise to one of Italy’s most important energy stories.
The center is located in a border area between the provinces of Pisa, Siena and Grosseto, in the heart
of Tuscan geothermal energy. The name of the place refers to François Jacques de
Larderel, an entrepreneur of French origin who understood industrial value in the nineteenth century
of the boraciferous lagoons. Before renewable sources were even mentioned, this area was
known for the presence of boric acid in water and hot sludge that
they were emerging from the ground.
From 1818 the extraction activity took on a dimension
industrial, transforming a harsh and smoking landscape into a linked production center
to chemistry and, later, to electrical production.
The turning point came at the beginning of the twentieth century. In 1904 Piero Ginori Conti managed to use the
natural underground steam to light five light bulbs: an experiment
seemingly simple, but destined to mark a fundamental stage in the
history of energy. A few years later, in 1913, the first power plant came into operation
geothermal, destined to make this small Tuscan center a reference
international.
Even today, looking at the country, one can perceive this double soul. On one side
it retains the character of a settlement born around work and production;
on the other hand, the surrounding landscape maintains an almost primordial force. The columns of
steam rising from the ground, the sulfurous smell, the clear rocks and the hot jets
contribute to creating a rare environment in Italy, often compared to Nordic scenarios or
icelandic. It is no coincidence that the Devil’s Valley owes its name to these
natural manifestations, which over the centuries have fueled the popular imagination and
literary.
The link between this area and the subsoil resource is not just a thing of the past.
One of the most important geothermal poles in Europe is still concentrated in the area today.
The Valle Secolo power plant, with almost 120 MW of installed power, is considered the
largest European plant of its kind. There are numerous others in the surrounding area
production sites that make Tuscany a reference territory for production
Italian geothermal. It is an industrial legacy that continues to evolve, uniting
technological innovation, production continuity and increasing attention to sustainability.
To learn more about this history, it is worth visiting the Geothermal Museum of
Larderello, housed on the ground floor of Palazzo de’ Larderel.
The museum itinerary
reconstructs the evolution of the resource through documents, models, technical tools
and multimedia installations. The rooms tell the story of the discovery of boric acid, the
development of chemical activity, the first industrial applications of steam and the birth
of electricity production. It is not only a technical museum, but a place that helps to
understand the relationship between the territory, the subsoil and the activities that have taken place here
developed over time. Also the demonstration showerhead, with the controlled opening of the
jet, directly shows the power of geothermal steam.
Larderello is also an interesting case of industrial settlement. In the twentieth century,
especially after the second world war, it was rethought in relation to the life of the
workers, technicians and families who worked in the sector. The urban planning project and
some buildings bear the trace of Giovanni Michelucci, one of the great protagonists
of Italian architecture of the last century. Homes, services, collective spaces and places of
cult were conceived in relation to productive activity and a territory marked by the
facilities and the natural characteristics of the valley.
Visiting this corner of the province of Pisa therefore means entering a Tuscany
different from the best known one. It is a journey through the history of science,
of industry and energy, in a place where nature continues to manifest itself in forms
spectacular. Not far away, the paths of the Devil’s Valley, the fumaroles of Sasso
Pisano, the landscapes of the Biancane and the geothermal areas of Monterotondo Marittimo
they expand the experience, showing how the Earth’s heat has shaped not only
the economy, but also the identity of this part of the region.
