The Hydraulic Mill - Colombano Romean Ecomuseum

The Salbertrand hydraulic mill is one of the most interesting and best preserved in the Upper Susa Valley, the only one to still contain the original machines from various eras. It allows you to retrace 800 years of history of the use of water, from feudal milling rights to the arrival of electricity.
The mill, known as the Martinet, probably began its activity around the year 1000 as a forge, and then transformed in 1200 into a hydraulic factory with multiple functions: cereal mill, pounder for defibering hemp, fuller for drapes.

The first trace of this mill is found on a parchment dated 5 June 1298, it was a bannal mill and belonged to the noble Allemandi family. It changed ownership several times, until it was purchased by the Community of Salbertrand, which obtained full possession of it, free from any lordly rights on the part of the Dauphin, with the charter of 1459.
The typical vertical wheel that distinguishes water mills in the collective imagination is missing; it was in fact a horizontal wheel system. This type of technology, despite the poor efficiency, calculated at around 15%, was preferred in the Alpine areas because it was more suitable for the harshness of the climate and the irregular flow of the watercourse.
Starting from 1901, the plants were also used for the production of electricity: the Salbertrand Municipal Electricity Company was created, one of the oldest in Piedmont.

In 1928 the introduction of a turbine replaced the water wheel. The internal structure of the mill was radically modified: an engine turned a long transmission axis equipped with complex gears and transmitted motion to the machines using belts and pulleys.

The mill that appears before our eyes today is the product of many transformations that have occurred over time, also linked to natural events and the historical political events of the valley.

The building, owned by the Municipality of Salbertrand, entrusted on free loan to the Gran Bosco Park Authority (manager of the Colombano Romean Ecomuseum), has recently been renovated and houses within it three distinct systems and various installations:

The actual mill, equipped with three pairs of millstones (one of which, in turn, is always stopped for maintenance) intended for processing grains, in particular rye (blä), but also wheat (frumën), barley (örjë), oats (siva).
The flours, once ground, thanks to the screw and spoon elevator, were transferred to the sieve, bařütè, a device made up of silk sieves with mesh of different sizes capable of selecting fine flour (fařina fina), normal flour (fařina du pan), flour (fařinetta) and bran (brën).

To the right of the entrance, the stable that housed the mules with which the farmers brought the bags of cereals to the mill to be ground is still present. In fact, it was customary for everyone to wait their turn to witness the grinding of their own cereals... That was the moment of the famous "mill chatter", an opportunity to talk and badmouth a bit about everyone...

Why Colombano Romean?

The Salbertrand Ecomuseum is dedicated to Colombano Romean, miner and quarryman from Ramats, symbolic image of the hard and thankless work in the mountains. For eight long years, starting from 1526, he excavated a work that is still incredible today: the Pertus, a tunnel at 2000 meters above sea level, five hundred meters long with a section of approximately one meter and eighty by one metre, to bring the waters of the Rio Touilles to vivify an entire slope above Chiomonte and Cels.

Services

Museum

Guided tour

Pic nic area

Disabled access

Access to the mill

The millstone room

Grinders for cereals - Luca Giunti

La Manavella, symbol of the ecomuseum

Pound for hemp and oil

Exterior of the mill

Access to the mill The millstone room Grinders for cereals - Luca Giunti La Manavella, symbol of the ecomuseum Pound for hemp and oil Exterior of the mill