Mulino di Sisto V

The mill, known as Mint of Sixtus V, is located in the middle Aso Valley. The building probably dates back to the fourteenth century, according to the findings from the examination of the Historical Hall, manufacturing and aesthetics of the building. The mill, stone not square, is on three levels: the first, to contain ambiguities compartment, with pointed vault, for the grinding, as evidenced by the millstones still exist; the second, now in poor condition; the third, once destined to battlements, then covered, perhaps in the seventeenth century. Distinctive element of the structure is the battlements that made the fortified mill, crowning the railing of the walkway. Above the entrance of the mill, a coat of arms carved in sandstone has two pairs of crossed keys and five mountains topped by a palm tree with five branches. On the field, which it shows embossed crest, reads the date 1525: the coat of arms refers to the period of the pontificate of Clement VII (Giulio de ‘Medici). The improper name of Mint of Sixtus V stems from a misunderstanding due to the oral tradition: the structure, for the milling of grains, was in fact run by the future Pope Sixtus V, but not to establish the facility of the Mint, founded in 1587 by the Pope himself in the premises of the old village of Montalto. In 1797, during the pontificate of Pius VI, the Papal States was the need to create new small mints; the possibility of applying the power of water to devices for the minting of coins led probably to install the second mint of Montalto in the mill of Aso. The Mint of Pius VI was then dismantled shortly after, while the building remained active as a mill: however oral tradition synthesized expressions “Mill Sixtus V” and “Mint of Pius VI” in “Mint Sixtus V”, and still the mill, now under restoration and functional recovery by the Municipality, is known and shown just by this name.