The public wash house can be found in the centre of Villacidro, next to the Cadoni mill and the church of Santa Barbara.
In 1887, the town council decided to provide Villacidro with public works in the interest of hygiene and public health, by building a wash house, among other things. Built in the Frontera de sa Mitza (Mitza Fountain) neighbourhood, where the waters channelled into for the previous waterhole. The project by the engineer Enrico Pani included not only the wash house but the construction of a communal slaughterhouse, demolished in the 1960s.
Inaugurated in 1893, it clearly brings to mind the Liberty style. The building is set out on a U-plan, with pitched roof supported by fine cast iron columns and arches with wrought iron spiral decorations; black trachyte from Serrenti, on the other hand, was used to construct the tanks. The same stone is used in the main fountain adorned with sculptures of a lion and lioness and two mermaids.
