Belonging to the townships of Amalfi and Scala, the Valle dei Mulini is a fascinating microcosm of industrial history, dotted by abandoned paper mills.

In 2004, a grassroots opinion movement got organised to prevent this heritage from disappearing. A master plan called Waterpower was drafted under the supervision of Luigi Centola (from the firm Centola Associati). After cataloguing the area, Centola and geographer Mariagiovanna Riitano asked a series of Italian and foreign designers to make projects for the renewal of the deserted water and paper mills. There was one condition: that they take the “power of water” as the poetic metaphor and technological guideline of their projects, turning the valley into an eco-sustainable environment.

After receiving the 2006 Silver Award of the Holcim Awards for Sustainable Construction and along with it a certain amount of international press coverage, Waterpower benefited from several allocations of public funding, allowing the organisers to complete detailed technological and economical feasibility studies. The next step will to establish a company that will combine public institutions and private parties. Laura Bossi

https://www.waterpoweramalfi.com