Heritage 2023, 6, 2152–2185. https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage6020115 www.mdpi.com/journal/heritage Article Dismissed Mines: From the Past to the Future Roberta Varriale 1, *, Barbara Aldighieri 2 and Laura Genovese 3 1 Institute for Studies on the Mediterranean (ISMed), National Research Council of Italy (CNR), 80134 Napoli, Italy 2 Institute of Environmental Geology and Geoengineering (IGAG), National Research Council of Italy (CNR), 20131 Milano, Italy 3 Institute of Heritage Science (ISPC), National Research Council of Italy (CNR), 20125 Milano, Italy * Correspondence: varriale@ismed.cnr.it Abstract: Today, dismissed mines are considered significant local tangible and intangible cultural heritage elements and they are more and more often at the core of dedicated enhancement processes, being sometimes inscribed in the UNESCO list; included in geoparks; transformed worldwide into industrial museums; or reused. Italy has a peculiar approach to the topic even if it has been under- estimated, and research in the field might be improved. Which models should be looked at? Is it possible to identify some basic criteria to look at to obtain positive results? If yes, where should one start? Our proposal is that the application to the newly born class underground built heritage (UBH) can provide instruments for their historical functional classification and introducing several criteria for their interpretation and reuse could eventually support future enhancement projects in this spe- cific sector. This methodology has been already applied worldwide to this category of good, giving positive results and motivating the authors to continue the research following this hypothesis, with the aim of creating a framework of good practices to be used as a reference for new projects. This paper summarizes the authors’ research in this direction. After the introduction of the academic scenario and the UBH theoretical approach, this study proposes the results from applying this new methodology to several worldwide case studies from Greece, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Poland in order to evaluate best practices and/or unsuccessful stories. This study, based on data collected dur- ing onsite inspections by the authors within several international financed projects, consists of two steps. In the first, a general overview of all the aspects connected to the historical and contemporary reuses of dismissed mines under analysis was carried out, proposing a reclassification on the basis of the UBH methodology. The second section is dedicated to a new case study: Valle Imperina dis- missed mines complex. This section includes an analysis of tangible and intangible values connected to the site and that of the state of the art of the corresponding enhancement. At the end, an evalua- tion of its potentialities and some critical issues was conducted. Keywords: dismissed mines; underground built heritage; tangible values; intangible values; reuses; enhancement 1. Introduction Dismissed mines are, today, commonly considered significant elements of local cul- tural heritage. All over the world, there are many examples of former mines which have been reclaimed, redeveloped, and reused. With so many tangible and intangible values connected, it is not surprising that several former mines are currently inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage Site list [1] or the tentative one. That is the case of the serial site “Mining Historical Heritage” of Spain, which has been waiting for an evaluation since 2017 [2]. More ex-mining sites have been listed in the UNESCO Global Geoparks network (UGGPs). That is the case of the Comarca Minera, Hidalgo UGGP (2017), in the Hidalgo region (Mexico) and the Tuscan mining UGGP (2010) in the Tuscany region (Italy) [3,4], Citation: Varriale, R.; Aldighieri, B.; Genovese, L. Dismissed Mines: From the Past to the Future. Heritage 2023, 6, 2152–2185. https://doi.org/10.3390/ heritage6020115 Academic Editors: Andrea Macchia, Fernanda Prestileo, Alexandra Jeberien and Patricia Sanmartín Received: 28 December 2022 Revised: 7 February 2023 Accepted: 14 February 2023 Published: 19 February 2023 Copyright: © 2023 by the authors. Li- censee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and con- ditions of the Creative Commons At- tribution (CC BY) license (https://cre- ativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).