Bag, Tanneries

The urban landscape of Bosa is characterized by the array of tanneries built on the left bank of the Temo. These are a series of buildings with continuous fronts, dating mainly to the nineteenth century, even if located in an area chosen for tanning at least in the seventeenth century, due to the need to use brackish water in leather processing. In fact, the buildings were built close to the river, near the city to be easily accessible by the workers, but also far enough away to avoid the unpleasant effluents deriving from the processing.
The ashlar buildings recall the homes of the city, since they use red trachyte vulcanite in the frames of doors and windows and the pinkish plaster obtained from the mixture of lime with volcanic dust. In all of them, the gables and gable roofs are repeated, which form a unique and almost uninterrupted façade. The simplicity of the exterior was matched by the functional organization of the interiors: two floors with wooden ceilings, connected by stairs and completed with machines and tools for leather processing. Generally, the upper floor was reserved for the finishing phases of two products in particular - the sole and the cowhide - requested mainly in Cagliari by book binders.
After the division between different producers that lasted until the early nineteenth century, a modern business organization, with few families owning the business, was finally discontinued in the sixties of the twentieth century. In 1989, the tanneries were declared a national monument.

History of studies
A review of 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
V. Mozzo, “The tanneries of Bosa: Images and Traditions”, in Archaeology and the Natural Environment, Sassari, Stampacolor, 1993, pp. 72-75; E. Sanna, The Tanneries of Bosa.
History, architecture, production process, Nuoro, Ilisso, 2000;
F. Masala, Architecture from the Unification of Italy to the end of the 20th century. Nuoro, Ilisso, 2001, sheet 45.