They were meeting and gathering places, where women went not only to rinse clothes but also to catch up on the latest news regarding life in the village.
The large basin was reserved for rinsing bed linens, which were washed at home in "brente", while the smaller basin was for the rest of the laundry, and another was used for water supply. The basins were protected by wrought iron gates and covered by a structure with full archways. A semicircular basin served to water livestock, and water spouted from taps with masks.
The oldest washhouse in Tregnago is that of the Pieve, fed by the Bortola stream, while the Rì washhouse, the largest in the village, derives from the Pisocco spring, which has been documented since 1506. The washhouse in the hamlet of Cogollo is called "il Santo" due to the fresco of San Giovanni Battista on a nearby house; of the one in Scorgnano, there is no trace of the fountain anymore, but it still features the characteristic archway structure. The nineteenth-century washhouse in Marcemigo is well-preserved. The basin visible on Via San Martino is circular in shape.
Washhouses have been supplanted by the arrival of running water in homes, which no longer forced people to frequent them for supplies, but today they remain testimonies of a past that should not be forgotten.
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