Luogo - Museum
Antico frantoio dell'olio
Where
Via Massarelli, Costacciaro (Perugia)
The Old Olive Oil Mill
The Antico Frantoio dell'olio of Costacciaro is located in the historical center of the town, in Via Massarelli, inside an old recently restored building.
The site deserves a visit for representing all the phases of the olive oil extraction and production process, starting from milling, up to pressing and oil collecting.
The Oil Mill, dating from the 17 -18 century, was active until very recent times, when it was the property of Mr. Carlo Bartoletti. It is the largest and oldest oil mill in the area and is an important evidence of the olive culture, largely already widespread in Montefeltro Duchy in the 15 century.
The mill has been called "Il Montano" since the beginning. The term probably comes, after a series of linguistic transformations, from "molendium", which means “mill” in the Latin language.
The structure consists of a large millstone for grinding the olive into a paste, and of a powerful Oakwood beam anchored to another stone as a counterweight. On the large beam it is possible to see the notch to
count the amount of olives processed, and the oil produced from the olive pressing process, and in a drawer it is possible to find the old bloc notes in which the income and the expenses of the mill were noted.