Hand laundry of the past

During the first of the '900, it often happened that common moments of everyday life become real rituals, because of the hard work and for the number of people that they required. The hand laundry at the fountain was one of these.

Weekly, all the women of the family, if not even of more families, departed from Rivalto, with baskets on the head full of dirty clothes and children in tow, to reach the public wash area on the climb of La Lama. Here they prepared a large fire on which was put a pot full of water to heat. The produced ash by the fire, then used during the wash, was collected and cleaned up from the embers and from the residuals of combustion.

While waiting for the water to heat up, the women rub with vehemence and care the clothes by using soap bars, by soaking, rinsing and washing them in the wash basins: washing occurred in the larger basin, the first rinse in the central basin, the final rinse in the smaller one with the cleanest water because just flowed from the source.

Therefore, they proceeded to set up a big vat of wood or metal with a hole in the bottom to which was connected a tube to drain.

At this point, the housewives with their mastery gave beginning to the "incoronamento", by arranging clothes to wash in the vat, making sure to put first the clothes less delicate and valuable, then the bed linen, the more delicate ones and, on top of all, the personal linen.

Filled the vat, they put canes all around it, so as to create a support to the "cenerone" (large ash), a very robust cloth towel with very fine texture that was filled in with ash. The hot water from the pot was poured on the ashes and the liquid flowing out (the ranno in italian tradition is the water used for hand laundry in the past ) from the drain pipe was collected to be re-heated and poured on the cloth, again and again, until the one exit from the vat resulted clear.

A last step needed to get a clean laundry as desired by the housewives: the drain tube was closed and the vat filled with hot water, left there for a few hours, up to the final rinse of the laundry in the basins.

Sometimes, for a better result, it was used the "turchinetto", a blue dye that dissolves in the rinse and gave to the clothes a slight turquoise effect making it even more candid.

But the efforts were not yet completed, it was now necessary to wring as much as possible the clothes so as to reduce the drying times and make them lighter for transportation home. If until now for children had been a carefree outdoor getaway, during the wringing they were called to support their mothers.

In the years following the World War II, the custom of the hand laundry outside was gradually disappearing due to technological progress, prosperity, the introduction of washing machines and new detergents, powdered first and then liquids. With the collection of figurines of points "Mira Lanza" (an italian famous brand of detergent at that time), for children the "rite of laundry" was still an opportunity for entertainment and game.

Despite the changes, the stone fountain for the laundry near to La Lama, although now devoid of the characteristic roof, is still functioning and is an ideal stopover, under the shade of trees, for a pleasant walk.