Memories of the ancient Salento laundry

La pila

In the ancient courtyard houses, humble dwellings, so defined because they were joined together by a single external space, called the courtyard, where the main domestic activities of the time took place.
In ancient times, in fact, the court always housed a well (from which water was extracted) and a stone wash house, called pila.
The pile was made from a single rock dug inside it. In this wash house the women of the time washed their clothes and linen. Since they are made by hand, starting from a single block of stone, there are no standard sizes. Therefore, each pile is a unique piece. Some are simple, dug in the shape of a parallelepiped. In these cases, a wooden board with horizontal grooves (the stricaturo) was used to wash and treat the clothes. Other piles, however, for example like the one in Corte Manfredi, were more refined and also equipped with a built-in stricaturu. The latter, also in stone, was obtained by digging and sculpting the rock itself and was one with the pile itself.
In any case, regardless of the type, these are washbasins in Lecce stone, majestic and very heavy but always unique and beautiful. So much so that they are currently used mainly as furnishing elements or as planters.
Even today, with their presence they transmit the memory of the life that flowed in the past in the courtyard houses of Salento.