Le Mure, Elba

Le Mure is a relief on the island of Elba, the site of a Bronze Age mountain settlement frequented until Etruscan times. The toponym, attested as Campo alle Mure in 1802, derives from the presence of three extensive low walls referable to the 2nd millennium BC. A short distance away is the cliff known as Cote al Galletto. The site is home to one of the largest protohistoric settlements on Monte Capanne, visually communicating with the settlement of Pietra Murata. The artifacts unearthed are on display at the Archaeological Museum in Marciana; those dating to the Bronze Age consist of fragmentary pottery with ingubbio, milk kettles, spindle whorls and clay spools. Finds related to the Etruscan Age, on the other hand, are represented by a fragmentary clay dolium, fragmentary ollae of common pottery, lead sling projectiles, and a bronze coin from Syracuse. At the site, near which there is a spring of excellent water, are three goatsheds with two stone huts made by Sanpierese shepherd Evangelista Barsaglini in 1982. A little further down, on the western slope, there are the Piane del Santo.