The abundance of water is at the origin of a vocation that has been rooted for centuries in the Borlezza Valley.
This natural element, source of strength and wealth, has allowed the flourishing over time of numerous artisan trades: sawmills, factories, a paper mill, hydraulic pounders and also numerous mills.
In Cerete, in the heart of the valley, a place has been identified where eight mills once stood. According to the town’s elders, however, along the streams that cross the town, there must have been many more. Even the neighbouring municipalities had their own mills in Cerete.
Two of these have managed to remain intact to the present day and are in operation. They are the bark crushing mill and the Giudici mill, managed since October 2018 by Flavio Vecchi who left his permanent job driven by a passion for cereals and grinding.
In this mill, made of stone and powered by water, certified organic corn and minor cereal flours are produced, from which organic and km0 food products are made.
The two mills, probably built in the 16th century, are the symbol of the history of this
town and represent one of the most famous tourist attractions of the Borlezza Valley. Another testimony is the hydraulic pounder. Rebuilt where parts of the walls of the original building stood as a project by the ecomuseum of the Borlezza Valley, it allows visitors to have an insight into the life and economy of the time.
It is a water mill whose driving force was used for the production of tannin, a substance present in the bark of trees, which was used for the processing of skins and for the production of paper. In the small park that surrounds “ol Pestù” there are also the original millstones of the Onore Mill and a clay oven built on site in 2013, used for baking bread.
Finally, to rediscover this historic tradition, there is theMACER, Museum of mills, grinding and cereals, inaugurated in 2018 by the "La Sorgente" association within what was once the church of San Rocco. On display are reconstructions of "millstones" from the stone age and also period machinery still in working order.
The abundance of water is at the origin of a vocation that has been rooted for centuries in the Borlezza Valley.
This natural element, source of strength and wealth, has allowed the flourishing over time of numerous artisan trades: sawmills, factories, a paper mill, hydraulic pounders and also numerous mills.
In Cerete, in the heart of the valley, a place has been identified where eight mills once stood. According to the town’s elders, however, along the streams that cross the town, there must have been many more. Even the neighbouring municipalities had their own mills in Cerete.
Two of these have managed to remain intact to the present day and are in operation. They are the bark crushing mill and the Giudici mill, managed since October 2018 by Flavio Vecchi who left his permanent job driven by a passion for cereals and grinding.
In this mill, made of stone and powered by water, certified organic corn and minor cereal flours are produced, from which organic and km0 food products are made.
The two mills, probably built in the 16th century, are the symbol of the history of this
town and represent one of the most famous tourist attractions of the Borlezza Valley. Another testimony is the hydraulic pounder. Rebuilt where parts of the walls of the original building stood as a project by the ecomuseum of the Borlezza Valley, it allows visitors to have an insight into the life and economy of the time.
It is a water mill whose driving force was used for the production of tannin, a substance present in the bark of trees, which was used for the processing of skins and for the production of paper. In the small park that surrounds “ol Pestù” there are also the original millstones of the Onore Mill and a clay oven built on site in 2013, used for baking bread.
Finally, to rediscover this historic tradition, there is theMACER, Museum of mills, grinding and cereals, inaugurated in 2018 by the "La Sorgente" association within what was once the church of San Rocco. On display are reconstructions of "millstones" from the stone age and also period machinery still in working order.
