Boundless spaces, wild places and an open-air historical archive: the Valgrande National Park is not only Italy’s largest wilderness area, but also contains many structures that bear witness to the intensive human presence in the valley in past centuries and the traditional milling activities of local communities in ancient times. The restoration of one of Premosello Chiovenda’s ancient mills is one of the initiatives with which the municipality won the PNRR Call for Proposals for the Cultural and Social Regeneration of Historic Villages.

The project, by WAU Architects, aims to create a new educational centre with the commitment to preserve the existing formal and material proportions and create a new module perfectly integrated in the context of the Park, with a strong cultural, historical and anthropological value.

The intervention is aimed at the restoration of the pedestrian access to the structure, the conservative restoration of the mill and its feed tank, and the insertion of a new removable mill-module within the restored structure. The new mill will have a modular metal structure covered externally in wood, spaced out from the existing structure and completely detachable.