Water Fountain of Solai

Putifigari is a small village inland from Alghero, located in the far north-west of Sardinia, with deeply-rooted cultural and food and beverage traditions and characterised by imposing forests and wide views, both inland and towards the sea. Putifigari is one of the towns in Sardinia that used regional funds for the redevelopment of its territory’s water fountains at the end of the 80s. The renovation works were completed with local dry stone. These fountains were used as troughs for livestock in old times because they were located in territories mainly used for grazing, but they were also meeting points for travellers, who went from one territory to another. It is said that the town of Putifigari was founded in 1365 when the fued was donated to Don Pedro Boyl by King Peter III of Aragon, and that the town only started growing after 1700. At the time, the whole territory was difficult to reach because of impenetrable vegetation and a lack of roads and paths, and this made it attractive to bandits and fugitives. These people would often gather in a thick forest, in a locality called Sos Bandidos, near the fountain for water provisions. The marquis could not find either farmers or shepherds to hire for the first sheep and goat breeding farms, so he started to meet with the bandits and became their friend. He decided to make his land a free area, where the bandits benefitted from special protection, obtaining clearance of their criminal records. Winning their trust, he hired them to work more and more, so that they found a definitive place to stay. With the first settlement and houses, they gave life to the village that got its name from Puti-figaru (place of hired assassins).