Italy — the cradle of the European civilisation — is full of ancient ruins. Some walls and roads there remember a dozen of Roman emperors. But some ruins are not like the others, some are special, even if they stand right in the pretty modern city.
On the western coast of Italy, right in front of Naples, across the Tyrrhenian sea lies a small town, one of the most popular tourists' destination in the country — Sorento.
Squeezed between the sea and the mountains, Sorento can't brag any heavy industries or shipping business, but it can brag its history that predates the Roman Empire. The narrow streets of Sorento remember not only emperors of Rome, but those who were before them: Greeks and Etruscans.
In the downtown Sorento, right behind the Piazza Tasso (Tasso Square) there is a deep gorge know as the Valley of Mills. Since the X century there was a water mill down here. With time, the mill have been extended and other buildings were built next to it. The stream running through the valley powered a sawmill for the local furniture makers and a public wash-house for local women.
However, nine hundred years later the place was gradually abandoned and turned into the picturesque overgrown ruins we can see it now.
