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A penta grossa

The name Penta originates from a prelatin language and refers to a particularly imposing rocky mass. This toponym also gave its name to the old mill below. U mulinu di a Penta grossa In the past, the Funtanaccia stream was bordered, like many Corsican rivers, by grain mills. The first written traces of these buildings date back to the end of the 18th century. At that time there were eight hydraulic mills, driven by the waters of the "Fiume degli mulini". These buildings were built on communal land and their commercial ownership was shared between several individuals. The latter had a usufruct on the land. Cereals and chestnuts were crushed there according to the seasons. About fifteen men were employed there. The Penta Grossa mill used a horizontal wheel drive system, very common in Corsica. It was fed by a diversion (a torta) situated upstream on the river and by a water supply canal (u matrali). This canal was extended to the mill by an aerial pipe made of hollowed out tree trunks and supported by imposing dry stone pillars. The water rushed through a three-metre high penstock and was projected under pressure onto the driving wheel, which in turn activated the millstone (a màcina). It is worth noting that used millstones have been reused as lintels and paving inside the mill. These replacements indicate the age of the building. The archives of the early 19th century reveal that the roof of the mills of Cutuli was made of scanduli (chestnut shingles) An affront avenged here The rocky outcrop overlooking the path is an ideal place for ambushes. It was here, in the 19th century, that a notable man, Dr Carbuccia, was ambushed. He was from i Peri, the neighbouring village. After asking for the hand of the daughter of Doctor Melgrani, a doctor from Cutuli è Curtichjatu, and marrying her, he repudiated her. Offended, the father of the bride wanted to make up for this outrage by having his ex-son-in-law murdered. On 25 July 1854, two accomplices, posted on the rock of a Penta grossa, tried to shoot him. They were all arrested and sentenced to prison by the Bastia court of assizes, with sentences ranging from 10 to 15 years of deportation. Doctor Joseph Melgrani died on 23 August 1856, at the age of 47, in the Montagne d'Argent penitentiary in French Guyana.
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