Flood, in Forlì the Villa Romiti mill closes after 100 years: «Mud in the machinery, unsustainable costs»

The flood of May 2023 stopped the Mill Villa Romiti in via Firenze 57 in Forlì which, due to the damage reported, is currently no longer able to grind. The owner, Giuseppe ‘Pino’ Partisani, born in 1947 and third generation representative of a dynasty of millers, resists as best he can and – alone – continues to keep open the shop where he goes every morning to satisfy his long-standing local customers, mostly restaurateurs, who have known him for fifty years. «Since the mill is no longer functional – he says –, I limit myself to carrying on the commercial part of my work, by having another miller grind the old and selected greats supplied by the customers. The products are stored on another site. However, I have no intention of putting the mill back into business, it is too expensive. In fact, an investment of around one million euros would be needed and I have no intention of going into debt at my age. Especially since I can’t even count on generational turnover since my son is allergic to wheat dust. Aid? Maybe they will arrive, I don’t think it’s just talk. But first you need to carry out an appraisal, then restore the damage, pay and then present the invoices for reimbursement. A process that was too long for me.”

Damage caused by the flood

The flood of that fateful May 16th last year caused about half a meter of water to enter the mill. Others fared even worse, but the problem wasn’t the water, but rather the mud that penetrated the warehouses and forced them to throw away around 300 quintals of stored flour, plus another 400 quintals of product already packaged ready for sale . The mud then completely ruined the electrical system and machinery, this explains the reason why the mill has not operated since then. Only two weeks ago Partisani managed to free the pits from the silt, which was as hard as a rock, thanks to the intervention of a specialized company. «Already before the flood the business was in the process of being downsized – recalls the owner of Molino Villa Romiti –. I no longer had any staff and, in practice, I managed the structure alone thanks to modern automation. In fact, the ground product goes directly to the warehouse and then the trucks load the bulk and bag it with various machinery. And fortunately, otherwise the damage would have been even more extensive. However, I have one big regret: before the flood I had identified a very interested buyer who has now backed out. Going down this road will be more difficult though the strength of the mill is that it is located inside the historic village and in a building areatherefore transformable for other uses”.

The flours brought throughout Italy

The Villa Romini Mill, founded way back in 1929 by grandfather Desdemolo, had its period of maximum splendor between the 1950s and 1960s, when it employed around twenty families and produced up to a thousand quintals per day of locally certified soft wheat. . The flours were taken throughout Italy, as far as Sicily and Calabria, given that in the south mostly durum wheat was produced. Four or five wagons of goods left Forlì every day. With the arrival of community wheat the market completely changed and Partisani decided to move towards a different business strategy, i.e. towards a strong downsizing around the mid-eighties. «It no longer made sense to compete with increasingly falling prices, so from that moment we focused only on our local customers”, concludes Partisani.

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April 17, 2024

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