Restoration
About nine years ago we fell in love with a place and an idea ..
The initial situation was so compromised that it certainly did not entice and it took great courage to undertake a recovery .. deterrent for which the mill had remained in total oblivion for over 60 years. If the initial abandonment could be justified by the fact that these structures were now industrially and economically considered out of the historical course and at the sunset of an active functional location, to date ... the only concrete and prospective alternative is to loudly recall their value intrinsic by relocating them functionally. Molino Maufet in its path which unfortunately started from scratch, has been structured to be an incubator of experiences aimed at being an example of a dynamic role that can be exported to other realities. It is therefore a question of protecting memories, traditions and values, but also of looking at new paths, including that of the micro-hydroelectric (taking inspiration from the European project Restor Hydro).
We thought that restoring this Molino and giving it a new functional location was the best way to protect it and preserve it over time .. and this is how now, when the work is almost completed, as a first step, its doors open to visits by appointment and it is It is also possible to spend a few days in one of the cozy accommodations of the Guesthouse:
La Volta, Il Granaio, Casa Amalia, Il Fienile, La Roggia, Alle Macine.
Oct 2026The first impact with the old building. | Dec 2016Start of restoration: observation and first rough cleaning. | Jan 2017Structure evaluation and removal of the old external wheel. Recovering ancient buratti and madie. |
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Feb 2017Removal of superstructures and part of the roof. First excavations. | Apr 2017Replacement of the compromised structures in support of the grinding fields, remaking of some mechanisms, preparation of the pavement of the wells under the mind. | May 2017Restoration of the hoist and replacement of part of the grinding floor. |
Jun 2017Construction of tanks to accommodate the two external wheels, recovery and partial installation of the shafts (casts), consolidation of the walls, manufacture of some hydraulic structures. | Jul 2017Beginning of restoration of the two internal wheels ("lubecchi"). | Aug 2017Realization of the structure of the roggia (metallic and wooden). Positioning of the reigs on the shafts ("fusi"). |
Sep 2017Exterior: remaking of the Roggia in stone (surface and underground), rearrangement of the levels of the pool (seat of the Ruote) + main water works (pipes and wells), remaking of the treading floors. | Oct 2017Studies and hypotheses about the wheel. | Oct 2017Set-up of the first balcony on the west side. |
Oct 2017After forging - turning and a few months of justified waiting, we are given the two pairs of pins for the shafts ("fusi"). | Oct 2017First step towards the new wheel: the hub. | Oct 2017Towards the new wheel: the rays. |
Oct 2017Everything lights up and takes shape. | Nov 2017The restoration of the fresco of Santa Cristina. | Nov 2017The Austrian Mill. |
Nov 2017The diversion of water in the rock. | Dec 2017Restoration second burrito and first grinding with the small mill. | Dec 2017Outdoor lighting. |
Approccio
We experience on ourselves ..sincerity and amazement .. knowing our roots step by step, opening ourselves rationally to honest and objectively achievable goals without crossing the boundaries of abstraction or unrealizable dreams.
We seek solutions to the problems of the mill with the available resources.
We listen to our creativity by analyzing the occasional drops of interest on technical aspects not sufficiently explored at the time of construction that, to be honest.. also give some sweet scratches.
We are not purists of restoration and it is not our primary conduct, but we are purists of the noble intent that we are pursuing with pure passion.
Ours is a vision of "sustainable compromise" that.. for some small aspects it is mandatory ..but.. not for this reason it results in neglect or in belittling the work.
We believe in the past with a view to the present without leaving the memory "on the street" or sinning in functionality where necessary.
We always remember that, in very different and more disparate cases, careless interventions have returned, despite good intentions, disastrous works.
<< Any restoration work, of whatever nature, involves a considerable amount of risk and therefore requires the ability to assume full responsibility for the result. The result, although perfectly satisfactory with the purposes of the intervention, inevitably involves one or more compromises from other points of view. The most important problem to solve, especially with our conscience of men, scholars and technicians, is to reach the absolute conviction of the need to intervene in that determined way, evaluating with the utmost rigor what the given thing will gain and what it will lose according to a scale of concrete and objective values. >> Franco Minissi, Arch.