Villacidro, Lavatory

It is the only surviving testimony of a significant public works complex, built by the municipal administration at the end of the 19th century and started with the arrangement and harnessing of the Rio Fluminera. Of the various buildings, then on the edge of the historic town, only the washhouse remains, now buried at a lower level than the original one, after the demolition of the watering hole, loggias and slaughterhouse.
The building, built in 1893 on a design by the engineer Enrico Pani and due to the metal part from the Florentine foundry of Pignone, has a series of masonry tubs, connected by a water distribution pipe and characterized by an inclined plane to facilitate washing clothes. The roof encloses a C-shaped plan with pavilions adorned with fake openings, always metallic, and stands out above all for the sinuous and enveloping pattern of the supporting decorations, in accordance with the principles of Liberty.
One of the masks used as a water torch remains of the stone fountain, while figures of crouched lions arranged symmetrically on the real fountain have disappeared. The restoration work of the eighties of the 20th century saved the last visible parts of the artifact.

History of studies
A review of the studies can be found in the bibliography relating to the fact sheet in the volume of the “History of Art in Sardinia” on nineteenth-century architecture (2001).

Bibliography
F. Masala, Architecture from the Unification of Italy to the End of the 20th Century. Nuoro, Ilisso, 2001, sheet 10

How to get there
On the SS 293 at km 22.4, the variant that crosses the Rio Leni comes off and allows you to climb (5.1 km) to the town of Villacidro.