Manufacturing was concentrated around the production of cast iron at the blast furnace. The material was then distri- buted in the numerous forges located in the Lower Valley, which, at their turn, used the energy of the river Mella for the operation of sawmills, power hammers and other machinery. Operating as early as the 1Sthcentury, this large building stands on the bank of the riverMella at the end of the residential area of Tavernole. Here the iron ore, mined in the mines of the Upper Trompia Valley, was transformed into cast iron thanks to the smelting that took place in the tower called canecchio (furnace tower). Inside the building, a dedicated setup evokes the passage in the Valley of two important cha- racters: Leonardo Da Vinci, sent by the Milanese Duke Ludovico il Moro to have a look at the methods of extraction and processing of iron, and the furnace master Giovanni de’ Zambonarifrom Gardone, who exported his knowledge to distant countries. In the outside area it is possible to admire the copy of the “poiàt”, the pile of wood that through a slow combustion, turned into coal that was needed in furnace. The blast furnace was active until the beginning of 20th century and, following complex recovery works started in the 1980s, the building has been turned into a museum since 2001. Included in the Museum System of the Trompia Valley, it is one of the stages of the ecomuseum itinerary of the Via del Ferro e delleMiniere (Iron and Mine Route). The area originally used as coal storage now houses the library and the municipal historical archive.