Not far from San Galgano, there is another unusual destination, the Agriturismo Il Mulino delle Pile. It’s not just any old farmhouse, but nothing less than the set of the old Mulino Bianco advertisements, the company that produces the most popular biscuits and snacks in Italy. At first it was a mill for milling wheat for the population of Chiusdino and for sodatura of cloth, the function from which it takes its current name (the "piles" were stone containers where the gouache makers, driven by the water wheel, beat on the cloth, immersed in the solution to felt them and make them firm), then a power station capable of supplying electricity to nearby towns during the Second World War, the farmhouse is located within the Val di Merse Natural Park and is now an accommodation facility with restaurant surrounded by greenery that allows many outdoor activities.
