The Protonobilissimo semi-underground olive oil mill

The oil mill, built a few yards away from the Palazzo dei Protonobilissimo, is an integral part of a series of underground trappeti in the town of Muro Leccese.

In 1880, in fact, there were seven olive oil mills operating in the town and surrounding area. The Protonobilissimo mill was built in 1602, as can be seen from the date on the family coat of arms above the entrance.

Access is via a stairway with a barrel-vaulted ceiling that leads into an enormous rectangular room, which also has a barrel-vaulted ceiling, where the olives were milled and the resulting paste was pressed to produce the oil. In the centre of the room visitors can still see the large calcarenite vat where the milled olives were collected, and the millstone, while around the edge of the room are three pairs of limestone bases on which the so-called Calabrian-type two-screw presses stood, as well as the housing in the rock for a large Genoese-type one-screw press.