A map of Isola d'Elba. This island is worlwide famous also for the wonderful HEMATITE from Rio Marina Mines. Click to have a full screen picture

Wonderful elbaites around 5-12 cm on matrix
(Mineralogical Museum of Firenze, J.Veevaert photo)

Group of elbaites around 6-10 cm with terminated quart, on matrix
(Mineralogical Museum of Firenze, J.Veevaert photo)

Detail of the previous specimen
(Mineralogical Museum of Firenze, J.Veevaert photo)

Terminated pink elbaites (4 cm) on matrix.
(Mineralogical Museum of Firenze, J.Veevaert photo)

The pegmatite veins of Isola d'Elba, Italy, are probably the most famous together with those of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Brasil. The only difference is that while these last still produce nice and spectacular specimens, those of Isola d'Elba rarely give the satisfaction of a good finding since they have been digged for almost 100 years and now the veins sink deeply in the granite rocks and do not offer anything comparable to 100 years ago. In addition, specific laws to preserve the environment prevent from the possibility of digging new veins, and believe me, there are some waiting for someone to discover them !

The most famous veins that gave (and sometimes also nowadays give) good tormaline and beryl specimens are those of the quarries of Grotta d'Oggi, La Speranza, Fonte del Prete, Gorgolinato, Facciatoia, and other minor ones. All these names come from the small villages or rivers close to the veins itself. For those who know a little bit of isola d'Elba, all these localities are within 10 squared kilometers close to the little villages of S.Piero and S.Ilario, at the base of Capanne Mountain (see the map).

A part from the wonderful tormalines, a great variety of minerals has been found on the pegmatites from Isola d'Elba, that is:

The specific characteristic of the tormalines from isola d'Elba is that the name elbaite came from the name of this island. This was due to the terrific and spectacular colors and shapes of the crystals that starting around 1850 were found over there. They were so beautiful and large and trasparent, that most of the tormalines available on the market in those days where from Elba.

The best specimens found in almost were collected by several people but only at the beginning of 1900 the Mineralogical Museum of Firenze, Italy, started to buy some of these collections and within 20-30 years it put together the world famous 5000 thousands collection from Isola d'Elba.

Nowadays very few and small specimens can be found, but you can dig something if you are enough lucky to find a good pegmatite vein. Last summer 1999 I was lucky to find several (small !) tormalines braking the large granite blocks that were 2 meters below the surface of the dumps of Fonte del Prete quarry, Gorgolinato quarry and Forcioni quarry. A very tough work, but some good specimen came out ! you xan see some of this on my tormaline pages.

The photos that you can admire on the left are some of the specimens of the 5000 thousands collection from Isola d'Elba that are on display. On october 1999 John Veevaert (the owner of Trinity Mineral) and his wife Colleen came to visit Italy and stopped by in Firenze (I am from Firenze even if I now work and live in Modena). I was able to organize a private visit to the Museum collection for us with the Museum curator in person, Prof. G.Mazzetti. The photo shown here have been taken by John and can be seen also on a very nice page he made on the visit to the Mineralogical Museum of Firenze, Italy. The last photo, is of a specimen I found last summer. A beautiful terminated crystal of elbaite around 2.7 cm, on matrix, showing a nice yello/green color. A real good luck !

Photos by J.Veevaert and A.Genazzani. Specimens are all from Mineralogical Museum of Firenze, Italy, and one from A.Genazzani's collection.

References:

Orlandi P, Pezzotta F - Minerali dell'Isola d'Elba. Edizioni Novecento Grafico, Bergamo, Italy, 1996

Tanelli G, Benvenuti M - Guida ai minerali dell'Isola d'Elba e del Campigliese. Il Libraio Editore, Portoferraio, Isola d'Elba, Italy, 1998.