Mulino rupestre (rock mill) – Pretoro

The rock mills (mulini rupestri – water rock mills digged in the rock) situated in the Foro valley close to the town of Pretoro  are interesting examples of industrial archeology.  They are the only two mills of this kind in Abruzzo and among the few in Italy.

They were donated to the benedictine monks of San Salvatore a Maiella, a monastery under the protection of The Abbey of San Liberatore (Serramonacesca) in the year 1059.

During that period mills were foundamental to survival, and infact often the Church and Feudatory challenged about the right to use the water and to gring wheat them to get the power and the gains deriving from their usage.

Inside the so called Mulino Comunale is possible to see several inscriptions. One says Antonio Di Crescenzo li 24 aprile 1867 while another one is a big etching of a human figure.

Inscription on the Mulino rupestre wall