Nel 1494, il Moro offered the Mulino di Mora Bassa as a wedding gift to his wife Beatrice d’Este. After her death, in 1498, the Sforza ceded the Mill, with the surrounding lands, to the Dominicans of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, who held the property until the arrival of Napoleon, who confiscated these possessions.
In 1803, the Marquis Saporiti redeemed the Mill and the entire estate of the Sforzesca from the Napoleonic state, then leaving all the heritage to his nephew Rocca di Reggio Emilia, whom Carlo Alberto, king of Piedmont, would recognize as the Marquisate of the Sforzesca, in 1845.
Following an inheritance division, Mora Bassa passed to the Milanese Counts Archinto Gropallo Saporiti who, in 1988, ceded the section of the Roggia Mora with the related hydraulic buildings, to the Associazione Irrigazione Est Sesia, which is the current owner. In 2000, thanks to the will of the Est Sesia and with the contribution of the Lombardy Region and the Municipality of Vigevano, the Mill became a museum site.
Inside the rooms there is an exhibition, composed of forty panels, entitled “Water Draws the Landscape“, which illustrates the transformations of the territory over the centuries and an exhibition on “Leonardo’s Machines“, that is, on the projects of the Florentine genius studied and realized by two skilled craftsmen: Gabriele Niccolai and Dario Noè, with the endorsement of Professor Carlo Pedretti.
The machines, built of wood, as in the 1400s, are perfectly functional and allow both adults and children to touch, understand, and approach this world, so distant for us. The emotion of this place is also the room where meetings took place between the Moro and Cecilia Gallerani, the “Lady with the Ermine” portrayed by Leonardo, and where legend has it that the spirits of the two lovers still linger.
Outside, the Mill has a large garden, part of which hosts a workshop-path for the study of irrigation water measurement systems and a multifunctional room for conferences, lectures, courses, workshops.
Information about Mill of Mora Bassa: Strada Mora Bassa, 38 – 27029 Vigevano (Pavia). Tel. 393 9517846. Email: info@lacittaideale.org
