Tresnuraghes, Paper mill

In a pleasant valley at the confluence of the Riu Mannu and Riu Marafè streams, in the territory of Tresnuraghes but on the border of the municipal competences of Cuglieri and Sennariolo, stands the majestic ruin locally called “sa fabbrica de su paberi”. It is an important example of industrial archeology, doomed to oblivion and to the onslaught of spontaneous vegetation for about two centuries. The building is located outside the town of Tresnuraghes, near the bend of the Foghe river, which allowed water to be used as a driving force. Difficult to access, it is visible at the foot of a clearing not far from the rural sanctuary of San Marco.
The company was started during the presence of the Savoy in Sardinia between 1799 and 1814, after the French had occupied their continental territories, and was among the few initiatives in favor of the development of the island's industry.
Once the place was identified, sufficiently rich in water but too far from the sea for an efficient supply of raw materials, the design was entrusted to the young Marquis Vittorio Pilo Boyl. Work began in 1809, with the use of about 200,000 francs, spent until the building was abandoned, in which - as Angius writes - nothing more than “some tests or essays on paper, which, due to its too dark color, could only work on it, but to write and print on it”.
What remains in the picturesque valley on the border of Montiferru is the only first “channel” or section planned by the project that should have occupied an area almost twice as long. The structure was built on three levels: the ground floor should have housed the machines, driven by the water channeled into a long vaulted tunnel, while the upper levels, with wooden covers, should have housed the rooms for drying paper. Of these upper floors, only the series of large rectangular windows placed close together in the surviving sections of the lift remains, intended to be closed by wooden doors equipped with windows to give light to the interior.

History of studies
The paper mill was already mentioned by Angius in the Casalis Dictionary and by General Della Marmora in his Itinerary: both emphasized its greatness and summarily recalled its events.

Bibliography
V. Angius, entry “Tresnuraghes” in G. Casalis, Historical and Statistical and Commercial Geographical Dictionary of the States by H.M. the King of Sardinia, V, Turin, G. Maspero, 1839;
A. Della Marmora, Itinerary of the Island of Sardinia, Cagliari, Alagna, 1868; Montiferru, Cagliari, Edisar, 1993;
S. Mezzolani-A.Simoncini, Sardinia to save: industrial archeology, Nuoro, Sardinian Photographic Archive, 1995, pp. 321-323;
F. Dessì, The Royal Paper Mill of Tresnuraghes, Quartu Sant'Elena, Fotolito, 1996.

How to get there
Once you reach the town of Sennariolo on the SS 292, you reach the paper mill through a neighborhood road in the direction of the country churches named after Santa Vittoria and San Marco. It can also be reached from the urban center of Tresnuraghes, through the SV that leads to the sanctuary of San Marco and then to the coastal tower of Foghe.