Columns of white vapors rising from the ground, bubbling waters and a striking panorama reminiscent of the lunar surface. This is Larderello, the town in the municipality of Pomarance, where for the first time anywhere in the world people have begun to harness geothermal energy—in the form of the heat that comes out of the earth—to produce electricity.
The Valle del Diavolo
Larderello is located at the heart of the Valle del Diavolo (Devil’s Valley), so called precisely because of the presence of the boraciferous steam vents, which were famous even in the time of Dante Alighieri, who was inspired by this very landscape to describe his Inferno in “Divine Comedy.”
Larderello’s boraciferous steam vents emit fluids flowing out of the ground from natural fissures or man-made boreholes, able to reach temperatures of 266–320 °F (130–160 °C). The entire boraciferous area is rich in impressive natural manifestations, with fumaroles, lagoons and geysers where various boric acid extraction factories were built in the past.
A visit to the Geothermics Museum in Larderello , a testimony to this one-of-a-kind experience, is not to be missed. Founded in the late 1950s, the museum traces the history of all aspects of geothermal energy: research, drilling and systems for using geothermal fluid for energy production, availing of original equipment and models.
