Mele’s Paper Museum

Paper has been made in the Genoa region since 1424. The local product was particularly prized because it was resistant to insects, and it was used in many government and royal chancelleries across Europe. A museum was inaugurated in 1997 in one of the region’s oldest water-powered paper mills. The Mele mill is a three-storey stone building, in which power is provided by an overshot waterwheel. The attic area can be heated to dry paper hanging on racks. It was last used for this purposes in 1985. The museum includes examples of the equipment used to make paper by hand and some early paper-making machines.