Fiume Mill (Pieve Torina)

History of the Fiume Mill

The complex dates back at least to the early Middle Ages and was one of the five mills in the municipality of Pieve Torina. When it was in operation it ground more than 700 quintals of wheat a year.

After thirty years of abandonment, in 1986 the Museo della Nostra Terra, with the support of the Comune (municipality), acquired ownership of it. A conservative restoration followed that brought the original mechanisms back into operation, and since 1993 the mill has been open as a branch site of the museum. The main museum, housed in the town's Augustinian complex, has been collecting more than 5,000 objects of rural life since 1976.

What to see at the Fiume Mill

The mill retains its original structures: the mill building, a first waterfall that lets in water from the stream, and the small lake. Through two sloping channels cut into the dam wall, the water falls onto three ritrecini, horizontal wooden wheels with set-in blades, placed under the vaults. Two ritrecini drive the large millstones, the third works the sifter and a grindstone.

The two stone millstones had different jobs. One, without a sifter, crushed grain for livestock: corn, barley, oats, fava beans and acorns. The other processed soft wheat; a system of leather belts carried the ground grain to the sifter, which had four outlets: one for the finest flour, one for the bran and two intermediate ones to measure out the share of flour and fine bran. Outside, the small lake, the waterfall and a small grotto with a sacred sculpture complete the complex.

How to visit the Fiume Mill

The mill can be visited by reservation only. It is part of the Museo della Nostra Terra route, and the guided and immersive tours organized by the museum also include the chance to go inside; for reservations, contact the museum and the Comune of Pieve Torina.

One way to get there is on foot or by bike along the Percorso delle Acque "Luigi Gentilucci", built in 2020. The route, about 4 km long one way, has a wide, even gravel surface, follows the Sant'Angelo stream and is almost entirely flat and shaded, with an elevation change of about 100 m. Along the way there are tables and benches for a break. It can be walked starting from either Pieve Torina or Fiume.

Where the Fiume Mill in Pieve Torina is located

The mill is in Fiume, in the municipality of Pieve Torina, in the province of Macerata, at the entrance to the village for those arriving on the road that descends from Colfiorito to Pieve Torina. Fiume is a village of a few houses with a church, in the valley of the Sant'Angelo stream, the route that links the Colfiorito plateau to Pieve Torina.

Near the Fiume Mill

The Percorso delle Acque also includes the Kneipp trail opened in summer 2023, the first in Le Marche: you walk barefoot in the water of the Sant'Angelo stream. Along the path are a Roman bridge, some small wooden footbridges and a detour to small waterfalls with natural pools, which can be dry in midsummer.

On the side of the valley, from the uphill detour, you reach the Eremo di Sant'Angelo in Prefoglio, known as the Eremo dei Santi: a sanctuary carved out of a natural cave, with a plaque from 1148 recording the work commissioned by Prior Diotisalvi and the counts of Prefoglio. Today the hermitage is unsafe and cannot be entered. On the spur opposite are the ruins of the Castello di Prefoglio and the church of the Madonna del Prefoglio.

In town, in Pieve Torina, the Museo della Nostra Terra occupies the Sant'Agostino complex and recreates, in fourteen sections, the interiors of farmhouses and craft workshops.