Conoscenza, memoria e destino: il caso del Mulino di San Moro nella Piana Fiorentina

The quality and completeness of understanding of the built historical heritage occurs, before the restoration project in and of itself, from a careful phase of knowledge. The complexity of a historical artefact consists in fact, in the need to recognize the object to be preserved in all its implications and therefore to act both in knowledge, intervention and use with conscious coherence. The case under study is the San Moro Mill in San Mauro a Signa, in the district of Florence, one of the most relevant and best-preserved examples of pre-industrial archeology in the Florentine Plain. More specifically, we want to represent a path of knowledge of water architecture and therefore of testimony to a particular territorial aspect. The building in question is an ancient hydraulic factory, dating back to the times of the Medici Principality, as an infrastructure of aid and economic development of the Principality. The artefact is currently abandoned, ruined and, given its precarious state, risks losing its identity. The conservative state of the building immediately highlighted the need to understand its origins, as it is now a unique testimony in the area. Through cognitive disciplinary tools and approaches, it was possible to reconstruct, phase by phase, the historical-constructive evolution, in all its aspects, in all the stratifications of time, in those ‘deposits’ which are substantial for the complete reading of the artefact. At the basis of the historical research, in this specific case, were the sources, the documentary traces of the past which, when critically interrogated, allowed a full understanding of the building over the centuries. The study of the sources regarding the Mill took place through immediate testimonies, indirect sources acquired from archival research. These one revealed a cartographic and iconographic documentation of the factory, represented in the territorial context in which it lives or even through more detailed drawings, which clarify its original state. In this way was possible to reconstruct, the morphological and typological evolution of the building. It is clear that one of the first 'pillars' of the restoration project is certainly knowledge, which goes hand in hand with protection, the activity aimed to recognizing, protecting and conserving a cultural heritage asset so that it can be offered to knowledge and collective enjoyment. In general, when we are in front of a historic building, which represents part of our history, it is not only configured as an architectural testimony of form and style, but as a real material document. Coming to some conclusive considerations, it can be stated that the cognitive phase is a moment of important research for what is the restoration and conservation activity, which is also capable of providing new stimuli for the conservation and valorization of the historical built heritage.