Treville Monferrato_funtanna sulfurusa

It's located on the valley floor, far from the town center, at the boundary of the communes of Sala Monferrato and Cereseto.

The complex, now in complete ruin, was famous for its abundance of water rich in sulphuric salts which emitted a "perfume" that could be smelled even in the village. It was a destination for those from the surrounding villages and from Casale, who would have joyful picnics, dances and games of bowls or "elastic ball."

After the Second World War, the complex was restored but likely due to the instalment of faucets and the tapping of the water in other places, the fountain lost its "perfume" and, over the years, much of its flow.

The "funtan-na sulfurusa" in 1978 (in G. Spina, 1994)

Abandoned for decades, it continued to be a destination for groups of young people and those who were nostalgic for the past.

During the '70s and '80s the fountain, by now in ruins, was put into the custody of Giuseppe Padovani, an extraordinary person endowed with strong will and the courage required to deal with the solitude and the distance of the place from Treville and with the absence of water and electric light in the buildings.

Although missing an arm, he made improvements, until he could no longer do so, and gave new life to the isolated ruins. Every now and then he would exhibit his "zoo," a series of chalk animals he distributed along the paths and in the gardens of the complex.

At the beginning of the '80s the Commune still showed its attachment to the site with a big cookout on the occasion of the village fair. But when Giuseppe Padovani died, the complex again fell into a complete ruin.

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1983 - village fair at the spring

the spring in 1979

At the beginning of the 20th century, the spring was celebrated by Albino Defilippi, the poet from Treville, in this way (Piemontese dialect):

"Tarvilla a l'ha la furtuna

che fra 'l pochi so bel rarità

a l'ha 'l buneur d'aveine una

che mi ades am pias numinà.

Lè la funtanna sulfurusa

c'la da dl'acqua c'la fa tant ben,

lè fresca, sanna, purtentusa,

bevì pira as paga nen.

Tanti van alla funtanna,

per godi là 'l divertiment,

se l'idea an làn nen sanna

alzu spali e pensu nent.

I fieui van in bicicletta

col bianc fular al saccucìn,

e in bucca la sigaretta,

e finna qui ad mal ie nen.

Tcò tante fije van vulantera

(ancur pi tant che al divozion)

a beivi d'acqua, o d'barbera,

o se treuvu un bon padron".