Porto Flavia in Sardinia is a port dug into cliffs at 50 metres above sea level. Consisting of two 600 metre tunnels, and an ingenious mechanical arm, Porto Flavia was used to load zinc, lead, and other mined ore, directly from the mining operations within the cliffs, onto cargo ships waiting in the waters below.


When Porto Flavia became operative in 1924, it slashed ore production costs by up to 70% , allowing its owners to gain a strong market share within a short time. The construction of Porto Flavia paid for itself in under two years, and was considered a technical marvel of early-20th-century engineering.

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