It looks like a place where time came to a stop just when the mining activity, which went on – with its ups and downs - for over a century, was at its peak. The mineral riches of the Malfidano area were already known to the Romans, who sought silver here, and was then very different from what we see today, covered in thick woods where brigands and outlaws sought refuge. In fact, its name comes from the Italian for shady business, or malaffare. In 1864, the French engineer Giovanni Eyquem was given permission to mine for lead and found a huge deposit of calaminarian masses that provided zinc. This led to the foundation of the Malfidano mining company, while at the base of Mt. Caitas, not far from the beach, the first houses of the village of Buggerru began to be constructed.