A long white marble basin, subdivided into several parts, with an elegant cast-iron cover and sheet metal plates.
The Lavatoio di via Lupo in Città Alta, built in 1891, is still a model from a design point of view.
Equipped with a water adduction system, an overflow drain, a process for discharging the dirty water after washing, and the gutter for collecting the water splash produced during washing, the Washing Machine proves to be efficient and functional.
On the other hand, Bergamo’s hygienic conditions at the time were indeed precarious: a cholera epidemic in 1884 had plagued the city, and doctors had reported the poor quality of water in the Upper Town, which favored the spread of typhus, a highly contagious and often fatal disease that recurred every summer.
To try to remedy this, the Bergamo City Council then decided to build a series of public wash houses: in addition to the one in Via Lupo, one was built in Via Boccola and one in Borgo Canale.
The Wolf Street Washhouse remained in use until the 1950s and today is carefully preserved as a precious reminder of the past.