The Baldassini Mill

One of the oldest and best preserved mills is the Baldassini Mill, the first one along the 'Mills road', a short distance from Leonardo's birthplace in Anchiano. It is composed of three buildings. In addition to the mill, it probably also had an oil mill and service areas for the miller. The engraved date, 1581, and the owner's name, 'Baldassini', can be read perfectly on the surface of one of the corner blocks of the building next to the access road. The name on the corner stone probably indicates the identity of the building's client. It is a family that owned other properties in the area, as can be seen in one of the maps of the 'Guelph Captains' which represents the western slope of the Balenaia gorge with three mills not far from each other. The largest, where you can clearly read the Baldassini mill, is powered by the water of a millpond, water that then comes out of the plant through two large arches that can be recognized very well on the main façade of the architectural complex. The map of the 'Guelph Captains' is almost contemporary to the dating engraved on the stone of the mill and represents a sort of 'snapshot' of that corner of the Balenaia gorge at the end of the sixteenth century.