MILLERS SINCE 1913
1862, THE FIRST QUAGLIA MILL WAS ESTABLISHED ON THE ADIGE RIVER
Annito Quaglia (1930-2017) , third generation of his family of millers
Annito Quaglia takes us back to the birth, in 1862 in the nearby territory of Sant'Urbano (PD ), of his grandfather Giuseppe, who sowed the seed of the Quaglia family milling tradition, which is alive today more than ever in Petra flour.
We have no photos of the time, only memories passed down through the generations and family stories, which start from an entry in the registry of the municipality of Vighizzolo d'Este (the one visible in the film and today displayed at the entrance to the new mill) to tell of worlds and ways of life that are difficult to understand today.
The figure of the miller was one of the cornerstones of the communities of yesteryear, and his art was essential for survival in difficult places and times, such as the foggy swamps of the Paduan lowlands in the years close to the First World War.
And just this side of those swamps, on the banks of the Adige River near Sant'Urbano, Joseph built three mills by mounting stones on barges moored in the bends to safely take advantage of the river's current.
One of these mills he gave as a dowry in 1913 to his son Angelo, the one to whom the current generation gives credit for transforming an early 20th-century startup into an organized company to become the architect of profound change in the world of flour today.
PETRA srl - via Roma 49 - 35040 Vighizzolo d'Este (PD) Italia IT03968430284
PETRA srl - Vighizzolo d'Este (PD) IT03968430284