Archaeological Area of Poggio del Molino

The archaeological area of Poggio del Molino is situated on the northern side of a headland that acts as a watershed between the beach of Rimigliano in the north, and the Gulf of Baratti in the south; to the northern border of the territory administered by the city of Piombino in the Italian Province of Livorno. The structure of Roman age spreads over a high plateau of about 20 m asl which dominates, in the west, the stretch of a sea between San Vincenzo and Elba and to the east, the metalliferous hills and plains of the Campiglia lagoon. The top of the hill is occupied by the beautiful Villa del Barone, built in 1923 by Baron Luigi De Stefano and Assunta Vanni Desideri, the daughter of Eugenio. From a paper of the 16th century, the "Bandita di Porto Baratti", and some archival documents we know that the Poggio owes its name to the mill which was a part of Torre Nuova (“Torre nuova del molino”), the building of coastal defense and a lookout built in the early sixteenth century by Cosimo I de' Medici, on the slopes of the promontory.