There, they would exchange news, share in other people’s tragedies, gossip and sing songs from the popular tradition. The bronze by Dario Verda, gifted by the sculptor to the municipality of Bissone, depicts one of these women, stooped over the water, while she rubs some fabric on the characteristic board with a large piece of soap. An ancient gesture which expresses the exertion of the women from our villages when life still depended on nature’s resources. Next to her is a basket for the laundry which would be hung out to dry on special taut lines on the lake shores, where the nets too would await expert hands. Similar scenes in nearby villages would have taken place at public wash basins fed by spring waters.