With its torn structures and machinery eroded by rust, that place is capable of arousing a strong suggestive power and evoking sensations and reflections that transcend the surface of objects.

The history of this singular agglomeration of buildings and human events begins around 1858, when the landowner Leopoldo Silvatici took possession of a vast agricultural plot below the San Jacopo hill and bordered by the Rio Grifone. Also known as the Rio di Lupeta, this small stream, despite its modest flow, had allowed the development of small activities related to water and water energy in that area. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Silvatici started the construction of a large rectangular building, of which it is still possible to admire the solid and imposing appearance, destined for the use of an oil mill. In order to make up for any water shortages in the modest river and ensure a constant supply of water to the crusher wheel, two large capacity gores were built. A third will be added to these. After a few years, the mill activity was flanked by that of the mill, carried out in another wing of the same building. Since the beginning and throughout the second half of the 19th century, both the mill and the mill transformed a large quantity of product, allowing the Silvatici to obtain substantial profits. Subsequently, however, production suffered a substantial decrease until reaching a phase of serious crisis in the early 1900s. New mills, equipped with advanced technologies, had in fact been built in the areas facing the collection, thus eliminating the burden of transport for users: consequently the requests for milling and pressing against the Silvatici had greatly decreased. Giuseppe Silvatici, who succeeded Leopoldo, decided to cease activities so unprofitable and put all the property up for sale. On 2 March 1934 Nicolo Crastan, co-owner of the well-known Pontese food company, bought the complex.

Given the low probability of profit, Crastan decided to abandon the activity of the mill to undertake another one, which at the time enjoyed a fair demand: coal production. Faced with changing production needs, the new owner had a series of buildings built between 1934 and 1940 adjacent to the original core of the mill. At that time, those brick and gabled roof buildings were used as warehouses, which still stand along the borders of the property and characterize their appearance. Other artefacts of similar manufacture are located on the opposite side, near the left bank of the Rio Grifone. The oil mill, equipped with large volumes, was reused partly as an office location, partly as a warehouse for coal storage. In stark contrast to the rest of the buildings, while being coeval with them, there are the two sheds intended to contain the ovens used in the new production. Through one of the side gates, still today it is possible to see their pointed and leaden profile broken vertically by the black lines of the two exhaust smokestacks. In a short time, that oil mill so perfectly harmonized with the surrounding environment, through a traumatic superfetation had turned into a strange tangle of heterogeneous buildings piled close to each other, in total dystonia with the sweet hills of olive and cypress trees of the Pisan Mountains. The activity focused on the production of vegetable coal, through the use of the embers produced by the burning of wood from the surrounding woods. The product was mainly intended for domestic heating, in particular for ‘bed warmers’, the only time of comfort during the cold seasons. The coal production of the Crastans was stopped in the early years of the Second World War when, following the outcome of the conflict, the Italian economy collapsed. During the war period the area was used in various ways. The warehouses in front of the oil mill were used as “storage of Vicopisano oil and wheat”, of which the remains of the sign are still visible. In the building to the right of the oil mill, it was planned to transfer the Piaggio offices from Pontedera, where the proximity to the railway station, the target of the allied bombings, was a real danger. The Allied advance and the consequent cessation of the bombing made the need for the transfer disappear. The offices were not finished and remained abandoned. They were then used as a makeshift deposit.

(from leviedelbrigante.it)

The city, faithful to the Pisan Republic, defended by strong walls and protected by the waters of the River Serezza and the Arno, had endured nine months of siege in which assaults carried out with bombards, catapults, mobile towers and rams followed, but in the end he gave up on hunger. The Florentines thus came into possession of a center on the banks of the Arno from which river trade and the nearby branch of the Via Francigena dominated, controlling the flows of pilgrims, merchants and the prosperous countryside around the slopes of Mount Pisano. With the fall into the hands of Florence it was thought to reinforce this important conquest to discourage the sights of the neighbors. The decision was made to build a fortress that was impregnable and discouraged the pitfalls of the Visconti armies that threatened Tuscany from Lucca. The Florentine government commissioned the famous architect Filippo Brunelleschi to design the new defensive work. Brunelleschi’s proposal was immediately very innovative: at the presentation in front of the government commission which also included the young leader Francesco Sforza, thanks to a model in clay and wood, the famous architect convinced everyone for the innovative solutions designed.
To build the new work, the town of Vicopisano was heavily modified: the churches and palaces that were in the area of ​​the top of the Vico hill were largely demolished. Brunelleschi’s fortification incorporated the pre-existing Tower of S. Maria (12th century) into the new structures. The latter was transformed into the keep of the current fortress. The typology of the fortress is still medieval, with high crenellated walls resting on arches with seals to cast inflamed Greek pitch and hot oil on the attackers. But in the defensive complex there are also many innovations such as the abundant use of drawbridges intended, when withdrawn, to isolate the various parts of the fortress in case the enemy managed to penetrate it. For example, before entering the courtyard of the fortress, you had to conquer the front door equipped with a drawbridge and a moat. Inside, in case of loss of the courtyard, the defenders could break down the staircase resting on four slender arches that connects the courtyard with the patrol walkway. If the enemy had managed to reach the curtains, the defense would have stood in the tower: it was possible to isolate the tower from the rest of the fortification by withdrawing the drawbridge that connects the patrol path with the only entrance of the same. The tower, equipped with its own cistern and supplies of provisions, could still last for a long time.
The most ingenious solution designed by Brunelleschi is surely the mighty crenellated wall that descends from the Rocca to the foot of the Colle, where it ends with the high Soccorso tower (21 m) built near the Arno, which at that time passed right under the walls of Vicopisano. As the name of the tower suggests, this work was intended to avoid isolation in the event of a siege by guaranteeing the supply of food, weapons and reinforcements by river in the event of a siege.
The boats could land in a cove, defended by fortifications that have now disappeared, unload men and dust that were brought in by a narrow hatch, then they went up to the second floor of the tower, to access the wall and climb to the Rocca. But Brunelleschi had thought of everything: in fact, if the enemy had succeeded in conquering the Torre del Soccorso and had tried to access the fortress from the wall, he would have found himself exposed to the pull shot from the Rocca, but above all he would have found the connection between the wall and the patrol path of the curtains of the Rocca from another drawbridge, which opened a passage of about three meters on a cliff of fifteen meters. Today the Pisan flag is flying over the tower of the fortress, but there are no winds of war, only visitors who climb to the top of the fortress to admire the view.
(from leviedelbrigante.it)

Here you can find beverages, snacks ice creams, aperitives in a very friendly environment