In Cingoli the production of flour with natural stone millstones is a unique speciality.
Stone grinding is one of the oldest methods used to produce excellent-quality flour. In particular, to ensure the excellent quality of the final product, it is the combination of water-powered stone grinding and the work of the millers. Furthermore, thanks to the slow movement of the mobile grinder, it is possible to preserve important nutrients such as proteins, vitamins, calcium, magnesium and other minerals.
Historical sources document the presence of the mill as early as 1565 when, on April 24, the “men of Colognola wanted to build the bridge over the river across the Molino Nuovo (the New Mill) and obtained 60 somas (an ancient unit of measurement) of lime from the Commune”.
In those years, the energy of the river not only was used to move the mill but also for the production of pyric material authorized by the Imperial Royal Austrian Command of Ancona. In 1858, the powder magazine alone, built next to the mill, employed 80 workers.
In the following years, the mill was transformed into a real industry of that time which also included an oil mill and a sawmill. In this way, the hydraulic complex, thanks to a system of falls still unchanged, allows the same water to grind both olives and grains and to grind the wood.