Sawmills route in Val di Rabbi

A simple thematic route that tells the story of the relationship that has always linked man to the forest, particularly through forestry and the historic Venetian sawmills.

This thematic itinerary, also accessible to people with disabilities, takes us to discover evocative farms and ancient mills of Val di Rabbi; in particular, we can visit two waterwheel sawmills, which used the energy of water to transform logs into boards and beams for construction. Waterwheel sawmills were very common in the past, using water's energy to transform logs into boards and beams. Today, few remain operational. They spread in the Trentino area around the 13th century and were introduced by the Most Serene Republic of Venice, where they were already widely used for timber sawing: hence the name Venetian sawmill. The hydraulic sawmills in Val di Rabbi are relatively recent (18th century). Their introduction made the sawing of logs easier, faster, more accurate, and less tiring: the muscular strength of two or three men was replaced by the force of water, and a single worker – the sawyer – was enough to perform the various stages of processing.