Riso Vialone Nano Schiavi Ancient rice mill since 1687

The Schiavi rice mill produces rice in the area of Mantua on the border with Veneto in Castiglione Mantovano in the municipality of Roverbella.
It is the oldest rice mill in the Mantua area among those still in activity, already present in the distant 1687, built by the Gonzaga of Mantua and then passed to the Marquis Canossa.

Further investigations could highlight a date of construction perhaps earlier. When the cultivation of rice in the Mantua area began after the 16th century, the stack together with the surrounding lands, previously owned by the Gonzaga family, had passed to the Guerrieri nobles. Subsequently to the Marquises Canossa.

In the 1800s it was still owned by a Canossa, Carlo. A century later the engineer Dari in his report described it as having three wheels, one for wheat, one for wheat and one for rice with twenty pylons. The wheels also act in the period of the upper irrigation. At the mill there is a weir or affioratore. In a paper of D. Moscatelli Battaglia there is a perfect description of the castle of Castiglione Mantovano and the court of the marquis Bonaventura Guerrieri. This leads us to think that the graphic representation of the mill and of the stack corresponds with absolute precision to the reality of the moment. Also in the volumetric relations. The characteristics of the two constructions are also confirmed by the following anonymous map of 1723: the rice mill, with a more modest building than the mill, is always the construction on the left of the course of the Molinella. The mill is undoubtedly older than the pile that was logically equipped only when rice cultivation began in the area. So at the beginning of the century. In a second time the two buildings were united in a single complex. When the hydraulic energy was replaced by electricity, the Molinella was diverted to the left of the stack. The company has maintained a craftsmanship (for example, all machinery is operated by leather belts, the rice worked with the propeller in the emery mill) directly cared for by the owner. The product is slightly darker than the industrial one found on the market, this gives it more cooking, more taste and better absorption of condiments. Being an artisanal production the availability may be 30/40 ql. per month or maybe more. The varieties produced are VIALONE NANO rice and CARNAROLI rice.