Porto Flavia, Sardinia, Italy May 14, 2025

Porto Flavia, Sardinia, Italy

Most ports rely on docks and cranes that extend into the shoreline. Porto Flavia on the Italian island of Sardinia took a completely different approach. This engineering marvel transformed a cliff into a gateway for Sardinia"s ore industry. Mining in the area has a history dating back thousands of years, from the Phoenicians and Romans to the industrial boom in the 20th century. Lead, zinc, coal, sulfur, barium, and silver were extracted from these rugged hills, but transporting them was a logistical nightmare. Ore had to be hauled by cart, loaded onto small boats, and then transferred to larger ships—a slow, costly, and inefficient process.

© Francesco Riccardo Iacomino/Getty Images

palette

Today in History

May 14, 2018Celebrating Bike to Work Week, May 14-18
May 14, 2019Cannes, France, in the spotlight
May 14, 2020Green fields of grain
May 14, 2021A misty morning in Brazil
May 14, 2022Windmills in Kinderdijk, the Netherlands
May 14, 2023Happy Mothers Day!
May 14, 2024Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico
May 14, 2026Pitigliano, Tuscany, Italy

More Desktop Wallpapers:

Oct 8, 2021An uncommonly cool critter
Jul 19, 2020Venice by night
Feb 9, 2024Pegadung Rock, Lampung, Sumatra, Indonesia
Oct 21, 2024Cypress trees in George L. Smith State Park, Georgia
Jan 1, 2019New Year’s Day in the land of the rising sun
Nov 1, 2024Native American Heritage Month
May 7, 2025Dunluce Castle, County Antrim, Northern Ireland
Jul 12, 2026Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, Maine
Jul 22, 2019Let’s go mothing
Oct 30, 2023Common raven
May 31, 2026End of American Wetlands Month
Jul 21, 2021An octagonal architectural treasure
Oct 19, 2023Mekong River Delta, Long An, Vietnam
Aug 3, 2021A reflection of Europe s past
Sep 8, 2020Victory Day in Valletta
Feb 9, 2025Alstrom Point, Lake Powell, Utah
Jul 22, 2020Wildebeest on the move
Feb 7, 2022Rideau Canal Skateway in Ottawa, Canada
Sep 26, 2026National Public Lands Day
Oct 25, 2023Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah
Sep 25, 2025Chittorgarh Fort, Rajasthan, India
Jul 17, 2021Pretty, pretty…butterfly?
May 5, 2020A courtyard scene from Spain
Oct 20, 2022International Sloth Day
Jun 13, 2020A gorge-ous mill in the Causses
Apr 4, 2026Black grouse males, Estonia
Jan 14, 2021Summer huts in winter
Oct 24, 2026Royal Portuguese Cabinet of Reading, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Jan 30, 2020The Pearl of Siberia
Nov 24, 2018The tortoise and the finch