History & anecdotes

Unknown Track - Unknown Artist

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This page collects anecdotes Stories and facts that are related to the Valle dei Mulini. We ask everyone to help us enrich this page. Thank you

..car 'o mur, s' accong a via (expression neapolitan dialect)

The road widens and the road widens.

As if to say that not all ills come to harm.

.. at the beginning of the 18th century (1700) Naples with over 400 thousand inhabitants was the most populated city in Europe, so it is logical to believe that the demand for ground to their suppliers had increased, so in the Valley it was necessary to produce more.

Throughout the century Vesuvius erupted dozens of times and this led to Naples, wealthy people from all over Europe who did not want to miss the spectacle of the gulf of Naples illuminated by the eruptions.

It is the period of great travelers (Gran Tour), wealthy people, artists, Nobles and all those who could afford a trip at that time.

But beyond the spectacle of nature which gave proof of its power, they were able to see, as was life in the city.

Naples was usually the end of the journey and after seeing Rome and the glories of its past, in the city of Naples the visitors were attracted by the beauty of the landscape, a "Paradise inhabited by devils"

Almost all the mills have a smaller tower or a tufa channel while the rest of the mill is made of limestone. This is because they were built in later periods of the medieval period. We know with certainty that the first constructions in tufo at Gragnano were built from the 17th century onwards and therefore also the additional towers are of the same period and also in all the mills there are two floors of millstone, of which the addition subsequently it was fed by the towers built in tufa.

The devils were the lazzari (or even lazzaroni) young and old people of the popular classes of Naples of the period who were eating with their hands the pasta still unknown in other countries.

Here's what Wolfgang Goethe wrote in his book "Viaggio in Italia" People here, preferring to avoid complications and not having well-equipped kitchens, resort to two resources: first of all to macaroni, a kind of cooked pasta of thin flour, soft and well-worked, which is shaped in different forms; everywhere you can buy all kinds for little money. They are usually cooked in plain water, and grated cheese greases the dish and at the same time seasoned it. They sell at full blast, and there are thousands of them who go with the necessities for lunch or dinner wrapped in a shred of paper. The eruptions of Vesuvius, contributed to spread the pasta in the world.