Valle dei Mulini (Mulino del Gassetta)

In the wooded valley above Paraggi, water once powered mills serving the coast's farming communities. The restored Mulino del Gassetta preserves the valley's history of hydraulic engineering and rural production.

Why it matters

The Portofino headland's inland valleys once held many water mills. Matteo Vinzoni's 1773 map counted 36 mills in the valley, powered by the Fosso dell'Acqua Viva. The Mulino del Gassetta was the last to stop working, in the early 1970s. A later restoration by the park authority and Comune di Santa Margherita Ligure preserved the mill as evidence of the valley's rural and industrial history.

What to notice

The restored mill retains the room of the frantoio, or oil press, which illustrates one of the valley's agricultural uses. Channels and races carried water through the valley to power the mills. The shaded habitat supports ferns and other plants associated with the area's water and woodland.

Context and history

The valley, also known as Valle dell'Acqua Viva after its stream, sustained millers through a system of channels engineered by mountain communities. Vinzoni's 1773 count of 36 mills records the scale of the activity. From the early twentieth century, the mills gradually ceased operating as industrial milling displaced them. The Gassetta worked into the early 1970s before it too closed, and a later restoration preserved the structure.