The so-called “Venetian” sawmill was introduced in Trentino and Lombardy around the 13th century, and got widespread in the areas of timber supply of the Venetian Republic. In its service, the military architect Agostino Ramelli studied this patent to work on the trunks where there was such a difference in water level that it allowed the needed production of energy for its functioning. The building has a lengthened rectangular shape, with a basement in masonry, a floor in planks, a pillar structure, trusses in larchwood and roofing in overlapping boards or shingles. Beside it stands a stone building used as the sawyer’s dwelling place. The water, taken from the creek, is brought to the sawmill through a wooden canal hanging on poles. The last section of the canal, the slide, with a 45-degree slope, lets the water run to the vane wheel (molinèl); another important element is the shunter, which causes the arrest of the wheel, diverting the water flow. The trunk to be sawn is placed on the cart and fixed by means of a bar (stango) and two wedges (còne); the cart runs along a series of wooden dollies and the way is slightly slanted to favour the coming back at after the cutting. Mr. Montanelli, called the “Radegot” (sawyer) for his activity, told about a work of great physical exertion, around which many other jobs now obsolete used to gravitate. In the past, in fact, one would get personally the timber to be worked, going on foot and with heavy packs into the surrounding woods (e.g. Cervera) to cut the “bòre” (trunks). These, once deprived of their branches and bark, were taken to the sawmill with the “tiradùra”, an implement hauled by a mule, or with the “prèala”, the mountain cart. In the latest years the timber got to the sawmill with motor vehicles, but the working procedure was always the historical one.
IN THE SURROUNDINGS
The Museum of the Alpini in the City of Darfo Boario Terme; the Oratory of the Dead, the parish church of St. Maria Assunta and the bridge over the Oglio in the suburb of Montecchio; the local Intermunicipal Park of Lake Moro; the Boario Spa and the park, the parish church of St. Maria degli Alpini in  Boario Terme.