Pre-industrial built heritage: mills of Lomellina

Italy remained a mainly agricultural country until mid-20th century, thus rural heritage has a primary interest. Rural architecture has a close relationship with agricultural landscape; both are the result of the work of man and together they give life to landscapes of labour. Within these landscapes, mills and hydraulic artefacts related to milling are particularly important. The paper will focus on artefacts of Lomellina (northern Italy). Since Middle Ages in this region a heterogeneous irrigation system was created by large landowners or religious orders, allowing the spread of cereal agriculture. In 18th century land management system evolved to capitalism, with investments in land reclamation and canals. Since the advent of agricultural industrialization in 1950s the disposal of mills and other plants began and it led to their abandonment and decay. The interest in material evidences of rural life is growing as their state of preservation is progressively getting worse; thus their conservation and valorisation is now extremely topical. The paper analyzes risks for preservation of these buildings resulting from abandonment but also from rehabilitation, as well as appropriate strategies for protection and reuse.