|
Mills in the Val di Fassa, Südtirol
Keith Andrews
Photos by Keith and Ruth Andrews
|
|
I apologise for the mixed languages in the heading,
but that is characteristic of the Dolomites area of
north east Italy, where we went in June to get a fix
of ‘proper’ mountains. This area, South Tirol, was
part of the Austro-Hungarian empire; it was annexed
by Italy after WW1, and retained by them after WW2.
Even so, over 100 years later, German is still the
major language, alongside Italian. All the road
signs are bilingual. |
|
In some remote parts though, such as in the Gardena,
Badia, and Fassa valleys, the ancient Ladin language
is spoken, which is officially recognised. So here
many of the signs are tri-lingual! – witness the
signs to the passes. Ladin is a neo-Latin language
like French and Italian, with its roots in the
mixing of Rhaetian and Latin languages, and is
related to Romansch which is widely spoken in the
Grissons canton of south east Switzerland.
The Ladin language and culture is celebrated in the
Museo Ladin de Fascia in
San Giovanni (Sèn Jan di Fassa in Ladin) in the
Fassa valley.
The museum has several satellite establishments,
amongst which are 2 mills, which we thought we ought
to visit. We were unable to visit when the museum
and mills were open, but were able to look round the
sites and take these photos. |
 |
 |
Molin de Pèzol, belonging to the Rizzi (Salin)
family from Pera since 1800, is a wonderfully
preserved watermill, still functioning. It is the
only remaining testimony, from Penìa to Forno di
Moena, of the centuries-old milling activity in the
valley. |
 |
Today the building looks rather different. Restored
by master craftsman Giuseppe Longo from Tesero and
inaugurated in 1983, the structure consists of two
millstones for cereals and a husking machine for
barley (pestin in the Ladin language), activated by
three big hydraulic vertical undershot paddlewheels.
The 3 wheels (rodes) are in a line, each with a
separate axle entering the building, as seen in the
diagram and the historic picture. |
 |
|
|
 |
The 3 wheels, each with its own supply chute which
turns into a channel under the paddles |
|
Some stones and the wooden launder and spillway |
 |
|
 |
The Sia of Penia is the last Venetian-type
hydraulic sawmill in existence in the Fassa Valley.
It has been documented since the 16th century and
is currently located inside the building constructed
in 1922 by the carpenter Giochelon di Predazzo. |
|
 |
The restoration work, conducted between 1985 and
1988, again by Giuseppe Longo from Tesero, led to
the complete operational recovery of the building,
as well as allowing guided tours to the mechanisms
functioning for demonstration purposes. The sawmill
could still be used to satisfy the needs of the
people of the district of Penia. However, our
photos tell a different story as there is no
waterwheel or axle bearing, and no sawdust!
 |
|
Launder and sluice |
 |
|
|
Vertical saw and internal equipment
Information from the Museo Ladin de Fascia website
and information boards. |
|
… and in the Ulten Valley
This is another isolated valley, although not in the
Ladin area. We found another preserved sawmill in
St Gertraud at the far end of the Ulten
Valley, now converted into a National Park visitor
centre. Again, it was not open.
The sawmill is the building to the right, seen below
the launder. The small building on the left, with
its typical shingle roof held down by large stones,
has the only waterwheel on the site, although there
was clearly once one at the end of the large launder
for the sawmill. |
|
 |
 |
|
The small building had a simple wooden overshot
wheel fed by a branch from the large launder. We
could only see inside the building by taking a flash
photo through the window; you can see the pit wheel
and what looks like a dresser.
Inside the sawmill is a typical sawbench; there
looks to be a vertical saw, but we couldn’t really
see properly.
Below is another view of the wooden launder and its
waterfall into the river.
|
 |
|
 |
 |
|
 |
Further down the valley was another small building
with a wheel that looked much like the small
building at the sawmill. It was raining too hard
(as seen by the slashes on the photo) to get out and
investigate further, but we could see no water
supply (other than from the sky!). |
