Antonio Monte, “Le macchine in uso nei processi storici di produzione dell’olio”, Patrimonio Industriale, 04, 3, ottobre 2009, p. 40-53. [The machines in use in historical oil production processes]
ABSTRACT: Olive culture is spread mainly over southern Italy, then in the centre and the islands and finally in northern Italy. The main oil producing region (nearly half of the national production) is Puglia, followed by Calabria, Sicily, Campania, Latium, Abruzzi and Tuscany. The olives were taken to the oil press, better known today as the mill: an “oil plant” or olive laboratory, i.e. a large room where the crushing and pressing machines for extracting the oil were to be found. The specific machinery used in the productive process has been handed down over the centuries without ever being technologically innovated. A few small modifications carried out over time were only for speeding up the work process and therefore the oil production. Working inside the mill during the transformation process (crushing and pressing) was back-breaking and inhuman; for this reason it was often referred to in specific literature as “blood” presses. To be more precise, the “blood” presses were those where the olive grinder was rotated by animals (nearly always a mule), and “water” because water or steam were used to generate movement. The machines and internal furnishings of these particular places of production represent the means by which the industrial process was carried out. On the other hand, one cannot interpret or understand a mill without considering the presence of the “objects” of work, the “devices” that were masterfully put into operation by the hand of man.