Antico Moleno sul fiume Cervaro - Bovino

Privately owned, but open by appointment, it is one of the few examples of water mills in the Monti Dauni still working. The original complex dates back to the '500', while the current shape of the building and its outbuildings dates back to 1810.

The mill uses the waters of the River Cervaro, along whose course it rises, for the milling of cereals. An admirable sign of the rural economy that once marked this corner of Puglia, the ancient moleno sees a millstone driven through a mast, by wheels (ritrecine) moved by the strength of the water of the nearby river, conveyed through a series of channels in a tank, from which a fall reaches a wheel placed horizontally.

The horizontal wheel has as pivot the shaft (axis) that drives the grinder placed at the upper level. The ancient Moleno houses inside tools related to the milling of cereals and peasant civilization of the last century. Behind it, past the old bridge, there is a beautiful monumental fountain of the Bourbon era and a huge Taverna (or Post station), with accommodation and stables, of Augustan origin.