The “Valley of Mills” or “Valle dei Mulini,” is a verdant grouping of modern ruins nestled at the bottom of a deep Italian chasm.

This name comes from the mills that were built in the valley. The first, established in the tenth century AD, was a wheat-grinding. Flour mills were first established successfully in the area and then other industrial groups moved in to take advantage of the constant flow of water through the area.

The deep crack in the rock which houses the crumbling buildings originated during a huge eruption that devastated the Mediterranean area 35,000 years ago. The flour mills, built from stone as far back as the 13th century,  took advantage of the constant stream at the bottom of the valley.

Exceptionally lush greenery surrounds as far as the eye can see and, enveloped and reclaimed by this natural beauty, are a group of ruins of mills that were active until the twentieth century and eventually abandoned in the 1940s. Now the area is hauntingly beautiful and a reminder of the power of nature and impermanent nature of the creations of men.

-photos from a wanderer