Recently restored by the municipality, the monumental complex of the kilns of Ponte dell’Olio was constructed from 1890 by the Azienda Calce Val Nure to produce quicklime for building purposes.
In fact, the first kiln, on a circular plan with four fire-rooms, was erected at this time by the company of Emilio Rossi, the father of Giovanni, the future founder of the “Industria Cementi Giovanni Rossi”. It was again Emilio Rossi who decided to enlarge the plant, which was periodically revised up until the 1920s when other kilns were completed, bringing the total up to five in all. At that time the complex included a bread oven which the employees could use.
The kilns produced quicklime on an uninterrupted production cycle, heating the calcium carbonate brought in decauville (tip-up wagons) by rail and cableway from the quarries of Cà Dario and Teglio. The kilns of Ponte dell’Olio produced excellent quality lime for building, sold particularly in Piedmont.
A monument outside the building honors Cav. Giovanni Rossi, who in the late XIX and early XX century, starting from a small kiln owned by his father, could quintuple the system in few years, allowing the future development of the company Cementi Rossi, which was founded in 1932.
