Thursday, September 7, 2017

Truogoli di Santa Brigida

Truogoli di Santa Brigida (Santa Brigida washing places), Piazza dei Truogoli di Santa Brigida, Genoa

Truogoli di Santa Brigida (Santa Brigida washing places)
Piazza dei Truogoli di Santa Brigida
Genoa, April 2016

“Piazza dei Truogoli of Santa Brigida is the place of the ancient wash houses: from Via Balbi it descends towards Via Pré and is surrounded by renovated and coloured old houses, with a sacred aedicule on a wall. At the centre of the square there is iron roofing covering the ‘truogoli’, the washhouses, where until a few decades ago, women in the neighbourhood used to meet to wash clothes and socialize. The old Genoese people said that in Santa Brigida ‘the water was wasted’ because the fountain of the washhouse was always open. The square and the ‘truogoli’ are named after the convent of Santa Brigida, now disappeared, which was situated on the uphill side of the square. Nowadays this is one of the most beautiful squares of the old town centre, it's charming when it's empty and quiet and it’s lively when there are many people visiting its restaurants, bookshops and shops.” (I Truogoli di Santa Brigida, Comune di Genova)