The robbery of the century at the Ingurtosu mine

Ingurtosu is a hamlet of Arbus that hosted one of the most important mines of the region. Its name derives from 'su gurturgiu', a vulture that once populated the skies of this area. The mining complex included the 'Il castello' - a neomedieval direction palace built around 1870 - and worker housing, a church, a store, a post office, a cemetery, and even a hospital. Along the valley connecting the village to the sea lie mining shafts and the imposing ruins of the Brassey Laveria, built in Naracauli in 1900 when the mine was owned by Lord Brassey.

On the evening of 1948, a band of nine bandits armed with muskets, submachine guns, rifles, and hand grenades attacked the Palace of the Mine Direction. During the post-war economic recovery, the mine employed about a thousand workers. The bandits broke into the vault and stole 19 million lire in cash and checks - the equivalent of about one million euros today. The heist was so organized that newspapers of the time called it 'the robbery of the century'.

Two men died during the crime: the head of the mine guards, Vincenzo Caddeo, and the young Carabiniere Giulio Speranza. Speranza, who had been assigned to the Ingurtosu station only 26 days prior, was shot while trying to surprise the bandits. For his behavior in the line of duty, he was posthumously awarded the Medaglia d’Argento al valor Militare. Today, the area is a monument of industrial archaeology, with the Pozzo Gal shaft transformed into a museum about the life of the miners.

Sources: Wikipedia, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons