Fountain of Placeta
If the area around churches was traditionally a focal point for young and old alike, in the villages, particularly on public holidays, the tinkling fountains became a meeting place for lovers and gossips, as the lack of running water in the houses meant that the women, especially the younger ones, had to fetch water in the pitchers that they carried with some dexterity on their sprightly hips.
The high jets of the fountain in Alameda made it difficult to collect the water in the pitchers, so the locals would bring hollowed-out canes which they used to direct the jets into the avid mouths of their containers. This fountain, which deserves to be described as a monument, since it has been providing the village with water for two centuries, was ironically declared by some villagers to have curative properties for the kidneys.
This assertion claimed that those visitors who drank from the fountain urinated profusely. The observation was partly true, though for reasons other than the properties of its water.
Opposite the old fountain was an inn known as the Osoria which provided accommodation for the travellers who passed through the village. Before retiring to their rooms, guests would drink from the fountain. As its generous jets of water sprang forth night and day, the sound of the water would make the inn’s clients want to urinate, resulting in them fleeing their rooms in search of the inn’s one common urinal.
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