This is an interesting example of a water-powered mill over the Boite torrent, formed by two main buildings placed side by side, run from the end of the nineteenth century until 1966 by the Pordon family, under an initial agreement with Giovanni Torres, an entrepreneur in the wool sector from Vittorio Veneto. The production of wool was unfortunately interrupted on many occasions as a result of the frequent floods, and was brought to a halt when the full force of the Boite and the Ru di Ciauza devastated the spinnery, causing massive damage to the delicate machinery. The flood did not prove fatal, however, because the population clubbed together to clean out the premises and restore the equipment, which continued to operate, using electrical energy, until 1985. To this day we can still see the wheel, five metres across, lying buried below what used to be the channel that drew the water into the mill. Set in motion by a wheel moved at the side by the current, the pulleys of the drive shaft allowed for the operation of machinery on the two floors of the mill. On the power floor were the carding, spinning, wool washing and dyeing areas, as well as those for fulling fabrics and blankets. On the ground floor, the wool was twisted and wound into shanks, and there was also the warehouse and the mill shop, where finished products were sold. On the attic floor were the frames required for drying the wool after the fulling process. For washing (boiled wool in particular), there was a reinforced concrete tub with water fed in from the Ru di Ciauza. The mill is no longer in use, but it is well preserved, despite the disappearance of the water intake works.

In San Vito di Cadore, from the SS51, take the easy access road onto Via Pelmo and go down towards the Boite torrent, along the road that leads to the neighbourhood of Serdes, where the Ru di Ciauza runs into the torrent.

ACCESSIBLE: yes; private property
MUNICIPALITY: San Vito di Cadore
PLACE: -
GEOGRAPHICAL COORDINATES: X 1746168 – Y 5150482
PROVINCE: Belluno

FILE COMPILED BY: Antoniol

There is documentary evidence that in 1766, between Vodo, Vaneggio (Vinigo di Cadore) and Peaggio (Peaio di Cadore) there were 38 corn mills, 3 sawmills for timber, 3 wool fulling workshops, 9 fabric looms and 4 millstones.

F. Pordon, Notizie intorno alla vecchia filanda dei Fratelli Pordon de chi de la zota in P.C. Begotti, E. Majoni, Dolomiti, Pieve di Cadore, 2009
C. Dal Mas, C. De Angelis, Cadore:  Musei e Territorio, degree thesis from IUAV, Venice, academic year 1996-97
S. De Vecchi, Opere nel Tempo. Le tradizioni dell’industria e dell’artigianato tra i monti della provincia di Belluno, San Giovanni Lupatoto, 1991