Montebamboli is a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

and

località A ''località'' is an inhabited place in Italy that is not accorded a more significant distinction in administrative law such as a ''frazione'', ''comune'', ''municipio'', ''circoscrizione'', or ''quartiere''. The word is cognate to English ''loc ...

in the

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

Massa Marittima Massa Marittima (Latin: ''Massa Veternensis'') is a town and ''comune'' of the province of Grosseto, southern Tuscany, Italy, 49 km NNW of Grosseto. There are mineral springs, mines of iron, mercury, lignite and copper, with foundries, iron ...

Tuscany it, Toscano (man) it, Toscana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Citizenship , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = Italian , demogra ...

, Italy. The settlement was first mentioned in a parchment from the year 754, and it is located in the hills of what is now the centre of Massa Marittima, within the Parco interprovinciale di Montioni. The hamlet is one of the few still preserved in its original state in the area, containing about twenty farms and a complex centred on the historic Petrocchi farm dating to the early 19th century, which still has its old

wine cellar A wine cellar is a storage room for wine in bottles or barrels, or more rarely in carboys, amphorae, or plastic containers. In an ''active'' wine cellar, important factors such as temperature and humidity are maintained by a climate control system ...

and

olive press Olive oil extraction is the process of extracting the oil present in olive drupes, known as olive oil. Olive oil is produced in the mesocarp cells, and stored in a particular type of vacuole called a lipo vacuole, i.e., every cell conta ...

. There is a church dedicated to St. Francis and St. Louis, dating to the late 18th century. On a hill near the village are the ruins of Tricase Castle, consisting of the perimeter wall and some interior walls. In addition to the cited document dated 754, the castle is mentioned in a document dating from 1316, which lists it as a property of the Sienese noble family of Sergardi. Montebamboli is also known for its high-quality lignite coal, located along the river Riotorto. Lignite was mined in the area by various companies between the discovery of deposits in 1839 and 1921. The extracted lignite was transported to the sea at a place near Torre Mozza (today the village of La Carbonifera), by a dedicated railway completed in 1849. A number of fossil species have been discovered in the lignite beds around Montebamboli, including the first fossils of the hominid species '' Oreopithecus bambolii'', and the unusual

waterfowl Anseriformes is an order of birds also known as waterfowl that comprises about 180 living species of birds in three families: Anhimidae (three species of screamers), Anseranatidae (the magpie goose), and Anatidae, the largest family, which i ...

species '' Bambolinetta lignitifila'', both of these species named after the settlement.

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