Guidelines for the conservation of the ancient hydraulic mills of the Valle Sabbia, Brescia, (Italy)

Abstract

[EN] The study of the hydraulic factories (mills, forges, trip hammers, etc.) of the Valle Sabbia, conducted by a University of Brescia research group, within the "Resilient Valleys" project (funded by the Cariplo Foundation), led to the definition of a protocol or guidelines with the ambition of identifying shared and adequate codes of practice to guarantee the correct recovery of this heritage. The object of the survey are artefacts located in functional positions for production activities, today often isolated and not very accessible. The architectural structure and construction features make them particularly vulnerable to deterioration, moreso than other types of artefacts. What remains of this building heritage is much closer to the conditions of a ruin which, if recovered or simply maintained, could very effectively convey some of the most characteristic features of local economic history. To conserve and maintain this heritage, operational indications and good practice suggestions are proposed, useful in interventions on buildings and hydraulic artefacts. There is neither a compendium with recipes to follow step by step nor even exemplary models, but rather a critical path method that starts from the direct and physical knowledge of the heritage, to arrive at the timely and most suitable conservation intervention. Method suggestions are proposed, which aim to help the owners, users or managers of these architectures, in choosing, within a scenario of traditional and innovative construction techniques available, the most suitable and correct ones to guarantee respect for the buildings’ and hydraulic works’ characteristics, their constructive, morphological, technological, material peculiarities and, therefore, to monitor and/or solve problems of decay and instability. Ample space is also dedicated to the planned conservation process, in which enhancement will contribute to respecting the material and intellectual integrity of the ruin.