#but it mostly insinuates a) a group of cavers b) a cave with a room with an underground lake? or some sort of water capture. Like i wouldnt

[iamthepulta]

I visited the Amalfi Paper Mill! They began making paper in the 10th century and have the original mills, in working condition!

Amalfi began paper production because it had a spring running down the limestone mountainside for waterwheel power and numerous chestnut trees on the mountains. Chestnut was used for the original wood as it's very hard (for crushing cloth rags to pulp) and water-resistant. (Lucca is also a historic paper-making site and also has abundant chestnut trees.)

The first two pictures are of the original mallets (chestnut with iron spikes on the end) that crush into manually-filled stone basins. After being mashed, the pulp was poured into the basin with water and urine (nitrates) and collected on a sheet of iron with the papermaker's seal embossed. The sheet was pressed onto wool felt to air-dry, giving it a rough "watercolor paper" texture.

The second mill was created by the Dutch and used up until the 1960s. The waterwheel turned a cylinder coated in iron through a basin with the pulp, that pressed it directly to the wool felt and sent it through several additional presses to remove the water. The paper was peeled off and used for paper sugar bags.

Later, the museum was created and the methods were preserved, still functional. They continue the handmade paper production process, one of the few places in the world to make acid-free paper.

Museo Della Carta - Amalfi