Flavio, Ferdinando, Federico, Fulvio, Fausto and grandfather Felice use traditional methods passed down through the centuries.
The organic Mulino Marino stone-grinding mill is in the small Langhe village of Cossano Belbo. The mill’s history dates back to the year 1001, when Cossano Belbo rose up clinging to a spur, dominated by a castle inside whose walls was the same burrstone mill still operating today.
The Marino family’s involvement with milling started with Felice, who is still working. He came from a family of peasants and bakers in nearby Mango, and since boyhood he worked in the mill as a laborer, carrying sacks full of grain and learning the art of milling and all the secrets of making good flour.
During the war he fought in the resistance as part of the Matteotti Brigade. Then in 1955, having fallen in love with the trade, he decided to buy the Cossano Belbo mill, which contained three hydraulically powered grindstones.
Traditional milling is a real art, and like all forms of art requires passion and experience.
So as not to “burn” the flour the vast circular French millstones, weighing 1,550 kilos per pair, must be hammered once a week to obtain the correct grade of roughness in the center, getting progressively smoother towards the periphery. This varies depending on the type of cereal to be milled. This is the responsibility of sons Flavio and Ferdinando, and their sons, Felice’s grandchildren, also work in the mill.
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