Museum & Guesthouse on
Lake Como.
Welcome to Molino Maufet: an ancient mill in modern times!
..a place that disappeared without reason, in time and in memories ..
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about
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The Molino Maufet is located in the village of Villatico in Colico (LC), a few steps from the Sentiero del Viandante, along the path of the Antica Roggia Molinaria which originates in Fontanedo, the first settlement in the town, dating back to 1100. The Molino Maufet was born in this period and precisely with a small building visible upstream of the current historical complex.
Even the Teresian Land Registry of 1718 gives traces of it thanks to a level contract, such as "Pila Site for Water Barley" owned by the Augustinian Friars of Gravedona, later taken over by the Sciucco family together with the Mill used instead for the grinding of Wheat and Maize .
There are traces of the mill complex also in the 19th century, a date still evident today on the architrave at the entrance. With the initials "MA BM" followed by "FEB 1826" the Sciucco family ceased the use of the pile, continuing the production activity with the mill. On the façade it is possible to admire the recovered fresco of S. Cristina di Bolsena, protector of millers, celebrated on 24 July.
The mill, active until the sixties and abandoned due to the death of the last millers, called “the Maufets”, is now owned by the Bettiga family, the same one that has been involved in restoration, enhancement and historical research for years.
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It does not end here. The goal has never been only historical and cultural recovery: a mill is an extraordinary sustainable hydraulic work, capable of producing energy for itself and for others. Inspired by the European project Resto Hydro, the next step of the recovery plans to arrive one day to exploit all the energy potential of the mill.
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where
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Via Fontanedo 33, Colico (Lecco) | Villatico hamlet | Como Lake | Italy
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Villatico is a fraction of Colico (province of Lecco), at the top of the northern branch of Lake Como; from here you can quickly reach Switzerland, Valchiavenna and Valtellina. In a panoramic position, the Molino overlooks the west coast of the lake on one side and the Prealps on the other . feeling of a journey far in time. The noises, the cars and the comings and goings of the center no longer seem to belong to that instant and almost suddenly the intense blue of the sky and the lake, the ancient majestic Church of San Bernardino, the old wash house and the narrow Vicolo Mulini lead to our mill. It is said that this intertwining of alleys jealously guarded by the imposing, but reassuring white bell tower surrounded by mountains, have within themselves the hidden seed of the first village of the Municipality. Continuous glimpses of leaning houses, on old cellars of blackened vaults with the suggestion of vines and fate spent on wet earth floors, scented with flour and heated only by the family hearth.
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live the mill
The Guesthouse
The living spaces of the Millers' Family and the historic Casa Amalia, after careful restoration, now house six welcoming accommodations: Il Granaio, Casa Amalia, La Volta, Il Fienile, Alle Macine and La Roggia. The renovation took place in a sustainable way, reusing and relocating, where possible, the original materials, and adopting intelligent technologies for energy saving. Two black and white cats welcome guests in the large garden: Tillo and Tilla. They share the lawn with bees and other pollinating insects buzzing among lavender bushes, daisies and a centuries-old Lebanese cedar, while a small swing hangs from the branch of a pear tree. Monte Legnone watches over all of them which, with its 2,609 m, is the highest peak in the western sector of the Orobie Alps and hosts Valorga, the lowest snowfield in Europe, at 750 m.
